Ponyo: First Days
by Imaginarius '84
Summary: This is the story about Ponyo's first days on land. She certainly had a lot to see and learn. Look inside and see what life out of water was like in her first days.
1. The Stories Begin

**Ponyo: First Days**

A sequel to Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo," and a prequel to the upcoming grand adventure, "The Adventures of Ponyo and Sosuke," which is coming soon. In this short series of adventures, Ponyo adapts to life on land and learns lessons, finds unlikely friends and experiences events that serve as a prelude of what is to come. Now I've posted a poem before, but this is my first story I posted. The stories are rather episodic and are more like drabbles written in the style of A.A. Milne.

Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters or locations from the film "Ponyo."** All characters, locations and ideas from the Studio Ghibli film "Ponyo" are the creation of Hayao Miyazaki and are the property of Studio Ghibli, related production companies and pertinent filmmakers and producers. The plot, locations not mentioned or alluded to in the original film, and all additional characters are mine. If the plot resembles any other work of fiction, it is entirely unintentional.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these semi-drabbles. Constructive criticism is welcome. Have fun!

Soli Deo Gloria

* * *

**Chapter 1 in which The Stories Begin and I Explain some Things.**

Outside the lovely seaside towns of Shinura and Ura Town lives a girl named Ponyo. She lives in a house on a cliff with her foster family: a little boy named Sosuke and her foster parents Lisa and Koichi. She is a good little girl with a vivid imagination and a curious nature. But many people don't know that she was once a fish and getting used to life on land was quite an adventure, both for Ponyo and her adopted family. I should like tell you the tale of what happened on her first few days as a little human girl.

Our stories begin on the first morning she awoke on land. It was a beautiful morning with…

"Um, excuse me…mister? Mister?"

Huh? Oh, hello.

"Hi."

What's up? I'm kinda in the middle of telling a story.

"Um, okay. Uh, shouldn't you start at the beginning?"

But this is the beginning.

"No, no. I mean the REAL beginning. Where it all began. You're the narrator. You're supposed to start at the very beginning when I was still a fish. What if everyone didn't know what you're talking about?"

I'm sure everyone here knows.

"But some might not. Can you start when I was a fish? Please?"

Well…I guess you're right.

"Mm-hmm."

Okay. I'll start at the very beginning.

"Thank you. Can I listen?"

Okay but you have to be quiet.

"Yay!"

Okay. Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering who that was, or perhaps you already know. For those who don't I'll explain later, but I guess she's right. I suppose it IS only right to start at the very beginning.

Once there was a little fish named Brunnhilde. She was no ordinary fish, however. She was a magical creature, the daughter of the sea goddess Gran Mamare, and a sea wizard named Fujimoto (who used to be a human). The two had many daughters, but Brunnhilde was the oldest and the most magical of them all. She was a lot like her sisters: mischievous, well-meaning and cheerful. However, she had something her little sisters didn't have: a tremendous curiosity. Her sisters were quite happy not knowing about the outside world; but Brunnhilde wanted to see what wonders were waiting for her beyond the walls of her house.

Her curiosity grew as the months passed and she was ever ready to discover what was out there. I'm afraid Fujimoto didn't help matters any. He was far too busy to raise her properly. Indeed, when he noticed her great curiosity, he was unprepared. He didn't do the wise thing and teach her about the outside world properly. Instead, he panicked and tried to keep her from discovering more. He viewed it as his job to protect her from all risk of danger (especially from those "abominable humans"). He meant well, but he became overprotective and both father and daughter suffered for it. Fujimoto wasn't respected as he should have been, and Brunnhilde was locked up in her house with no opportunity to learn, discover and grow. So it is no surprise that the curious little fish was itching to escape from her overly restrictive life. Then, at last, the perfect opportunity came.

One day, her father took Brunnhilde and her sisters out in his magical submarine. He was so busy attending a great many sea creatures that he was distracted and Brunnhilde's moment came at last. She escaped the submarine, with the blessing of her younger sisters, and set out to see the world…at least for a while.

That "while" turned into a "long while" when she ended up trapped inside a glass jar. She wriggled and wriggled but only succeeded in getting herself more stuck than before. She finally fainted from exhaustion and hope seemed lost for her. Then the first thing she knew was that something or someone big was holding her. Whatever it was gently nudged her cheek and she licked in response. An odd taste of blood got into her mouth before she passed out again, but not before she heard an excited voice of a young boy: "IT LICKED ME! IT'S ALIVE!".

"Sosuke said that. (Gasp!) That's Sosuke! I love Sosuke!"

Yes, that was Sosuke, but you have to be quiet. I'm telling a story, okay?

"Yes Mr. Narrator."

Well, one thing led to another and Brunnhilde learned that her rescuer was a five-year-old boy named Sosuke (like I just said). He promised he would take good care of her and protect her. He fed her some ham, which she ate with relish and vigor; it was the most delicious meal she ever had. He even spoke affectionately to her and gave her a new name: Ponyo. She had never experienced this kind of love and care before, even from her own father. Aside from her younger sisters, this boy was the best friend she ever had and she grew to love him. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to be human.

Well, to make a long story short, she eventually became a human through her father's magic and the human blood she tasted. She reunited with Sosuke and they enjoyed an evening together along with Lisa, Sosuke's mother. Unfortunately, in her search for Sosuke, she accidentally triggered a massive storm that threw the earth out of balance. The whole town began to flood and ships were being lost at sea, including a fishing boat captained by Sosuke's father Koichi. Something had to be done to put everything back to normal. Gran Mamare (Ponyo's mother if you remember) told Fujimoto that Sosuke had to be tested in order for everything to become as it was. If his love was real, Ponyo's magic would depart forever and the balance of nature would be restored.

Through a long series of circumstances involving a magic boat, the temporary absence of Sosuke's mother and Ponyo becoming a fish again, Sosuke proved his love for Ponyo and everything returned to normal. The seawaters returned to where they belonged and the town and its citizens were okay. Lisa promised Gran Mamare she would take care of Ponyo and Fujimoto gave Sosuke his blessing, telling him to take care of his daughter. The ships lost at sea returned home (including Koichi's ship) and Ponyo became a human for good.

And that is where the backstory ends and Ponyo's new story begins.

* * *

So how was that? Did you like it?

"It was good. Are you going to tell the rest of the story now?"

I will…but that will have to wait for another time.

"Aww. I want to hear more."

But you know the story already.

"Yeah…but no one else does. I like hearing your story anyway."

True. But it will have to wait for another time.

"Okay. I'll bring Sosuke next time. He likes stories."

Sounds good. Now say goodbye.

"Bye."

Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first story. Okay, that little girl was Ponyo herself (but you probably already knew that). Well, stay tuned for the next chapter in this series of stories. Until next time, goodbye and God bless!


	2. Ponyo Wakes Up and Starts her New Day

**Chapter 2 in which Ponyo Wakes Up and Starts her New Day.**

And a few more touches of sugar and...

(Knock, knock.)

Yes?

"Hi Mr. Narrator."

"Hello."

Hey you two!

"Can we come in?"

Sure Ponyo, take a seat. And you must be Sosuke. Come on in!

"Thanks."

How are you two doing today?

"Wonderful!"

"I'm doing good. How are you?"

Just fine Sosuke. I just finished some lemonade. Would you two like some?

"Yes please."

"Mmm. This is yummy."

Thanks Ponyo. So what's up?

"We came to hear more of Ponyo's story. Ponyo said you would tell some more, and she said I could listen too."

"Yeah! We want to hear more!"

"Can you tell us more please?"

"Pleeeeeaaaase?"

Sure, just let me take a seat here.

"Yay!"

Now where was I?

"You finished the part where I became a human forever."

Oh yeah, that's right. Now I'll begin telling the real story. I'll start on the morning when you first woke up in your new home.

* * *

The first things Ponyo (who used to be Brunnhilde) experienced on her first morning in her new home were two sounds: the distant and gentle yet mighty splashing of ocean waves far below the house and the chirping of birds eager to begin the day. She had hardly slept that whole night. She was far too excited. The whole day before, she and her new family spent the day getting her settled in. It was the beginning of a new life: for her and the family.

She sat up, stretched her arms and opened her eyes. The sunlight poured through the glass windows and bathed her room with a warm golden hue. It was (and still is) a very nice room with its windows, wooden floors and walls, dressers and toy box. It was Sosuke's room, but now it was Ponyo's room too.

A large sliding-glass door was on one side of the room. It opened out onto a balcony with a large light used to signal boats. Sosuke used it whenever his father Koichi sailed by on his fishing boat. Then they would communicate and say hello and other stuff like that. On the other side of the room, directly opposite the glass door, was a wooden door leading to the hallway, which led to Lisa and Koichi's room, a bathroom and downstairs. Sosuke slept on a bed on one side of the room. Ponyo slept on a comfortable futon and pillow on the floor. After all, the family didn't have an extra bed for her, but Ponyo didn't care.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked around…and then it hit her: she was in her new home for good. She remembered that she now got to live with her beloved Sosuke and his parents. She remembered that she could now see all there was to see and learn all there was to learn on land. With a burst of joyous excitement, Ponyo leapt off the futon and ran over to Sosuke, who was still fast asleep. He wasn't going to be asleep in a moment.

She leapt onto him and bounced up and down on his bed.

"Sosuke! Sosuke! Sosuke! Wake up! Wake up! It's morning!" she trumpeted jovially.

Sosuke groaned and stirred a little. Being woken up like this wasn't exactly the perfect way to start a morning. But Sosuke was a good boy and understood Ponyo's excitement.

"Okay Ponyo, I'm up," he said in a tired and assuring tone.

Ponyo stepped away from the room and let Sosuke get up and stretch. Ponyo couldn't keep still but bounced and rocked on her feet in place. Sosuke rubbed his eyes, looked at Ponyo and smiled. He may not have acted as exhilarated as Ponyo, but in reality he was just as excited as she was. He just had a better hold on his emotions than Ponyo at the time.

"Good morning Ponyo" he said.

"Good morning Sosuke!" Ponyo exclaimed. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept great," Sosuke remarked. "How about you?"

"I couldn't sleep much," Ponyo said. "I was too excited. Let's go wake up your mom and dad!"

Sosuke knew better than that.

"Um…actually we should…"

He didn't get a chance to finish. Ponyo dashed out the door.

"Hey wait!" Sosuke shouted.

He chased after her, still dressed in his blue, long-sleeved pajamas. He knew that his parents didn't care for being woken up unless it was an emergency. However, he couldn't help laughing a little at Ponyo's glee and the situation.

Of course, Sosuke didn't reach her in time and Ponyo burst through the partly open doorway and into her adopted parents' room. Without a formal introduction, she leapt onto the bed between Lisa and Koichi, who were both sound asleep.

"Hey! Wake up! Wake up! Good morning!"

They responded with tired groans while she laughed and bounced. Sosuke stayed at the door trying not to laugh.

Then they both just fell back to sleep. Ponyo stopped bouncing. Didn't they want to say good morning? Didn't they want to be with Ponyo on her first day?

"Huh? Lisa? Koichi?"

She rubbed them vigorously. First she tried Lisa. Then she tried Koichi. Nothing happened. She looked at Sosuke.

"Sosuke, what's wrong with your mommy and Daddy?"

Sosuke chuckled.

"They don't like being woken up."

Ponyo felt a little guilty…and a little dejected. After all, shouldn't they hang out with her?

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"That alright Ponyo," assured Sosuke. "We'll just go downstairs and make ourselves some breakfast."

The dismay Ponyo felt vanished at the prospect of "making breakfast." She had never made breakfast before in her life. This was something she had to do!

"Okay!" she announced with glee.

But before she could get off the bed, Lisa (who was completely awake and waiting for the right moment) reached out and grabbed Ponyo. Ponyo squeaked in surprise and Lisa snuggled with her and tickled her. Ponyo laughed and squirmed.

"Good morning Ponyo!" said Lisa cheerily.

Lisa had the feeling that Ponyo would try and wake them up on her first morning so she told herself it was all okay and she would accept Ponyo's excitable nature. Koichi did the same and he too was awake and waiting. Without warning, he reached out and gave Ponyo a strong "good morning" hug. She squirmed and laughed in his grasp.

Wanting to join the fun, Sosuke laughed and leaped onto the bed. Soon, everyone was wishing each other a good morning and nestling with each other as parents and children do.

"So how did you sleep?" Lisa asked Ponyo.

"Oh, I slept fine," Ponyo chirped. "I was really excited at first and couldn't go to sleep, but then I did."

"Was the futon comfy?"

"Yep!"

"That's good," Koichi said, "But we'll have to get you a real bed one of these days."

Ponyo giggled with excitement. Sleeping in a bed sounded especially fun.

At last, it was time for breakfast. Lisa slipped out of bed, followed by her two children. Koichi stayed in bed a little longer. He had to go back to work that day and wanted to rest up as much as he could.

"Okay kids, it's time for breakfast," Lisa said. "We've got a big day today."

"Breakfast?" inquired Ponyo cheerily.

"Yep; so head on downstairs and we'll get something to eat. You've got school today Ponyo."

"School?" asked Ponyo. The idea of going to school was a little confusing to her. "But I'm a human now. I don't go to school anymore."

"Huh?" asked Sosuke.

"Humans go to school too, Ponyo," Lisa remarked.

"They do?" asked Ponyo curiously. "They swim with the fishes too?"

Lisa responded with a blank, confused look. Sosuke responded in kind until he realized what Ponyo was talking about.

"Oh," he said in a "now I know what you're talking about" voice. "You mean school as in a bunch of fish."

Ponyo nodded and Lisa had a "now I know what you're talking about" look on her face.

"Okay. On land, there is a different kind of school," Sosuke explained.

Ponyo's eyes widened.

"Really? What kind?"

"I'll tell you all about it," Sosuke said. "First we should get out of our pajamas and change into our day-clothes."

"Okay," Ponyo agreed.

The two children dashed to the room to change their clothes. Ponyo went into the closet and closed the door. When she emerged, she wore her characteristic red dress with white bloomers. Sosuke then went into the closet and came out wearing his yellow shirt and dark-brown shorts. He brushed off his clothes with his hands. Upon seeing him do that, Ponyo decided to do the same thing and brushed her clothes wherever her little arms could reach. Then she thought, "hey? Why stop there?" She enthusiastically brushed off her hair, face, arms, legs and feet. Sosuke laughed.

"Ready?" Sosuke asked.

"I'm not done yet," she replied. After brushing off some more, she said, "Okay, I'm done," and the two ran downstairs hand-in-hand.

In the kitchen, Lisa was taking out some food for breakfast. Upon the countertop, she set a bag of wheat bread, a box of cornflakes and some leftover steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots, peas, and corn). Then she heard the pitter patter of unshod feet approaching. She looked up and saw Ponyo and Sosuke staring at her.

"Hey kids. Ready to make breakfast?" she asked.

"I wanna make breakfast!" Ponyo exclaimed. "Can I make breakfast?"

"You sure can," Lisa chuckled. Ponyo jumped up and down while Sosuke laughed at her eagerness.

"Okay. Ponyo, come here please." Ponyo pattered over to Lisa's side with Sosuke following her. She looked at the various food items on the counter and studied them intently.

"So Ponyo, what do you want for breakfast?" Lisa inquired.

Ponyo studied the items and looked up at Lisa.

"There's no ham," she astutely remarked.

"I'm sorry, but the ham is for dinner," Lisa said apologetically.

Ponyo seemed a little disappointed. After all, ham was (and still is) her favorite food.

"But I want some ham now," she said dejectedly. "Can I have some please?"

"Sorry Ponyo, but the ham is for later," Lisa said decidedly. "However, you can choose from anything here. And I'll show you how to make it yourself. How does that sound?"

Ponyo still wanted ham but was willing to try something new.

"Okay," she said politely. After looking over the foods before her, she pointed to the box of cornflakes. "What's that?"

"That is cereal," Lisa said.

"Cereal? I want some cereal!" Ponyo said excitedly. She jumped up and down, eager for this interesting sounding food.

So Lisa took out a bowl from a cupboard and set it on the counter.

"Now," she said, "I'll show you how and you do as I do. Okay?" Ponyo nodded and Lisa opened the box. "First, you pour the cereal into the bowl…like this." Lisa poured the cereal into the bowl. Ponyo stared wide-eyed. She especially liked the sound of the cereal hitting the bowl. She giggled and put her ear to the bowl. Then Lisa handed her the box.

"Now you try it, but remember to pour very slowly."

Ponyo nodded and titled the box upward. Unfortunately, the cereal bunched up on the plastic lining inside the box. She tilted the box upward more and more and more and…

After a while, Lisa finally got the last of the cornflakes off the counter and floor into the trash. Ponyo and Sosuke helped as best as they could. Now there was a bowl of cereal on the counter filled with a mountain of cornflakes.

Lisa sighed. "Well, I did say to pour slowly."

"Ponyo," Sosuke said, "when you make a mistake, you have to say 'sorry' and promise to not do it again."

"Okay," Ponyo said. She knew the concept of being sorry and trying to do better. "I'm sorry."

Lisa smiled. She actually found the situation funny, even if Ponyo emptied the entire box of cornflakes onto the counter and the floor.

"That's okay Ponyo. Next time, you pour a little bit faster but not too fast."

"Okay…um…what do I call you?"

"Well, since I adopted you…you can call me mom or mommy."

"But Gran Mamare is my mommy."

"Yes, but since I adopted you, I'm your new mommy. And Sosuke is your brother and Koichi is your daddy."

The idea of Sosuke being her brother filled Ponyo with glee. Then she had an idea.

"I know! I'll call you and my new dad 'mommy' and 'daddy' or something like that. My other parents I'll call 'father' and 'mother.' Is that a good idea?"

"That is a great idea, Ponyo," Lisa affirmed. Ponyo smiled.

After that, Lisa scooped some of the extra cereal into another bowl for Ponyo while Sosuke made himself a peanut butter sandwich. Then Lisa showed Ponyo how to pour the milk. After that was done, Ponyo and Sosuke sat down to eat their breakfast while Lisa mopped up the floor and wiped the counters…after Ponyo apologized and Sosuke offered to help clean up of course.

Lisa sighed. Raising a child wasn't easy. She remembered having to do this when Sosuke was younger. But she loved it too. Moments like this, frustrating as they were, were worth all the world to her, and she loved Ponyo like a daughter. Life was going to be an adventure alright…for Ponyo and the rest of the family.

* * *

So…how was that?

"That was funny, Mr. Narrator."

"That was great. Wasn't Ponyo being silly?"

Yes, but she had a lot to learn and she is still very little. Little kids don't control their arms as well as they do when they get older.

"Yeah. That box was heavy."

"So can we hear some more?"

"How about when I go to school and when I meet Kumiko?"

Sure, but…oh dear, I have things to do.

"Really?"

"But we didn't even get to the part where Sosuke told me about school."

Sorry, but I have to get back to work now.

"Okay Mr. Narrator. We'll go home now. Come on Ponyo."

"Okay Sosuke. Goodbye Mr. Narrator and thanks for the story...and the lemonade!"

"Yeah thanks and have a nice day."

Goodbye you two and you're welcome.

Well, Ponyo seems to be taking to her new home quite well. So how will she will take to school on her first day...or riding in a car for the first time? Find out next time! Goodbye and God bless!


	3. Ponyo gets Ready

**Chapter 3 in which Ponyo gets Ready and Lisa Drives Her to School**

IMPORTANT NOTE: Last chapter, I implied I would tell the story about Ponyo's first day at school. Well, due to the progress and development of the story, her first day at school will have to wait until chapter 4. Otherwise, this chapter would have been way too long. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Well…it's almost 4:30. Now then…they should be arriving in 3…2…1.

"Hi Mr. Narrator!"

Well, hello you two! Did you have a nice day?

"Yep! We went to the store today and bought groceries!"

"And Sosuke and me rode a horsey!"

A horse?

"It was one of those things you put the quarter into and you ride it."

Oh I see.

"Mom says we're going to eat dinner at a res…rest…um…"

"Restaurant."

"Yeah! A restaurant!"

Oh that sounds fun.

"But before we go, can Ponyo and I hear what happens next? Mom said we could as long as we didn't take too long."

"Yeah. Can you please tell us more?"

Well, why not?

"Yay!"

Okay…now the last place I left off was you were eating breakfast, right?

"Yep, and I spilled the cereal and milk."

Yeah, that's right. Well…

* * *

Ponyo and Sosuke sat down and enjoyed their breakfast. Ponyo ate her cornflakes with relish; she loved this new food she discovered. Then Lisa sat down with her bowl of cereal. Koichi then came downstairs to a cheery "good morning" from the rest of the family. He made himself a sandwich and sat with the family. After swallowing another spoonful of cereal, Ponyo decided to ask about something that was on her mind for most of the morning.

"So," she inquired, "what is school here?"

"Well," Sosuke said, after eating another bite of his sandwich, "school is a place where we learn things and play games and meet new people."

Ponyo's eyes widen. All those things sounded very promising.

"What do we learn?" she asked.

"Well," Sosuke said, "we learn about how to write and how to draw and about plants and animals and the world and…and lots of stuff."

Sosuke didn't quite know where to finish since he learned a lot from school, but Ponyo didn't care.

"When can I go?" she asked excitedly. School was an experience she had to be a part of.

"You're going to school after you eat breakfast and after you get ready," Koichi answered.

"Great!" Ponyo chirped. "Then what? What will we do after school?"

"After school," Sosuke remarked, "we're going to the senior center to visit my friends there."

"More friends?" Ponyo asked.

"Yep."

"How about daddy?" Ponyo inquired, turning to Koichi. "What are we going to do?"

"Well," Koichi said, "I have to go straight back to work afterward. I'll be gone for about a week."

"Aww," Ponyo and Sosuke said sadly.

"Already?" Sosuke asked.

"But I just met you!" Ponyo said. She wanted to get to know her new father better.

"I know honey," Koichi said, "but my boss said I had to come to work today."

"Okay," she said. "Then can we do things together when you get back?"

"Of course we can!" Koichi said assuringly. "There's a lot I want to show you."

"Great!" said Ponyo. "I'll miss you, but at least we can have fun together later!"

The family finished their breakfast and put their dishes away. Sosuke showed Ponyo how to rinse dishes and stack them neatly. Then Sosuke took Ponyo to the bathroom and they prepared to brush their teeth. Sosuke took out a tube of toothpaste from a drawer. Ponyo looked at it curiously.

"What's that?"

"Oh," Sosuke said, looking at the tube of toothpaste he was holding. "This is called toothpaste."

"Toothpaste?"

"Yep. You do this."

Sosuke took out a blue toothbrush for himself and gave Ponyo a red one. Ponyo looked at it and put the bristled end of the brush in her mouth. It had an odd but not unpleasant plastic taste and she proceeded to suck on the brush like a lollypop. All the while, she watched Sosuke as he showed her what to do. He then squeezed the tube and put some toothpaste on the brush. Ponyo gave a small and slow gasp in surprise at this curiosity she was seeing. Sosuke then handed her the tube.

"Now you do it," he said. "But make sure you don't squeeze too hard."

She took the tube in her hand and looked at it. Then she took the brush out of her mouth and prepared to squeeze the toothpaste onto the brush. She squeezed it very slowly and out came the paste. She kept squeezing until she had a small amount on her brush, just like Sosuke. Then she stopped and placed the tube of toothpaste on the counter.

"Good job Ponyo," Sosuke said.

"Thanks," she said happily. She was adapting to her new life rather well. For someone so young, Ponyo always was an intelligent girl and a fast learner.

But Sosuke wasn't done yet.

"Now you put some water on the brush like this."

Sosuke held the brush underneath the bathroom sink's faucet, turned on the water and wet the brush a little. Ponyo copied him but some of the toothpaste washed away.

"It's okay," Sosuke assured, "you just have to do it slower next time and not let the water go so fast."

So the two children brushed their teeth. Then Sosuke showed her how to wash her face and brush her hair. Washing her face was fun but the hairbrush was feeling rather belligerent that day and gave her a lot of trouble. She tried getting the brush to go through her messy hair but it got stuck. She pulled but couldn't get it out of her hair.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" she exclaimed in pain. She started to cry while Sosuke tried to console her and calm her.

"It's okay Ponyo," he said, but Ponyo didn't share his calm attitude.

"Get it out! Get it out!" she yelled. She wasn't rude, just hurt and afraid she would never get the brush out of her hair.

Sosuke tried but he had no luck. Ponyo sobbed a little and ran for Lisa. Sosuke followed.

"Mommy! Mommy help, help, help!" she cried. She at last found Lisa in the living room. "Mommy! Help!"

"What is it Ponyo?" she asked. Ponyo just stood in front of her mom and wept.

Lisa then saw the hairbrush in her hair and chuckled a little.

"It's not funny," Ponyo pouted indignantly.

"It's okay Ponyo," Lisa assured. "Here."

Lisa took the brush and slowly untangled it from her hair.

"Thank you," Ponyo said.

"I'm afraid you might be a little too young to use the brush," Lisa remarked.

"It hurts," Ponyo remarked.

"Yes, but if you do it right it doesn't hurt as much," Lisa responded.

"Can you brush my hair?" Ponyo asked.

"How do you ask?" Lisa asked.

"Please?" Ponyo said.

Lisa smiled and proceeded to brush Ponyo's hair while teaching her the importance of saying 'please' and 'thank you.' The hairbrush still hurt at times when it pulled at Ponyo's hair, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. When it didn't hurt, Ponyo enjoyed the caressing feel of the hairbrush.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get the hairbrush out," Sosuke said.

"That's okay," Ponyo assured. "Mommy can teach you someday."

Lisa smiled. Then she finished and took her to a mirror in the living room.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

Ponyo gazed at her reflection. Her hair was neater than before. It gleamed a lovely strawberry blonde and almost reached her shoulders. She gazed in wonder at her reflection.

"It's even more beautiful than before!" She clasped Lisa around the waist. "Thank you mommy!"

Lisa hugged her back.

"You're welcome sweetie."

"Can you teach me how to brush my hair like that?" Ponyo asked.

"Sure. I will someday."

Ponyo smiled at the thought.

Then they were all ready, but Lisa had one more thing to take care of.

"Ponyo," Lisa said, "I have a surprise for you."

Ponyo gasped in delight.

"A present for me?"

"Yep. Here you go."

With that, Lisa gave Ponyo her present…a lovely pair of shoes like Sosuke's. Ponyo gazed on her gift with joy. It had been a long time since anyone gave her a present. To her, it was like her first gift. She took the shoes and hugged them.

"Thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed.

"You're welcome honey," Lisa laughed. "Go ahead and try them on."

"Okay!"

With that, Ponyo slipped the shoes on. She smiled and walked around a little. It felt a little restrictive and strange since Ponyo had never worn shoes before, but she was still grateful.

"It feels strange, but I still love them!" she said decidedly. "Thanks mom."

"You're welcome Ponyo. Now we had better go."

With that, the children said goodbye to Koichi, gave him a big hug and a kiss and left the house. Ponyo looked sad as she left the house.

"What's wrong?" asked Sosuke.

"I wish I could have spoken to daddy more," Ponyo replied. "I'm gonna miss him."

"Yeah." Sosuke agreed. "He'll be back soon."

The children got inside the car. Sosuke's yellow car seat was strapped onto the backseat of the car. Next to Sosuke's car seat was a purple car seat Lisa picked up yesterday. This seat was for Ponyo. Ponyo and Sosuke sat in their seats and Sosuke buckled himself in. He then proceeded to show Ponyo how to buckle her seat belt.

"Why do we have to buckle our seat belts?" Ponyo asked.

"Well," Sosuke answered, "if something happens and the car crashes, we won't hit the seats in front of us. That would be really bad if that happened."

"Okay kids," Lisa said, "all buckled up?"

"Yep," they replied. With that, Lisa sped out of the driveway and down the road.

Now there are two roads to the cities of Shinura and Ura Town: the coast road, which is etched into the sea cliffs, and the mountain road, which follows the hilly and forested spine of the peninsula where the house is at its tip. Lisa decided to take the coast road, which probably wasn't a good idea. We'll see why in a moment.

Ponyo decided to ask about the people at school and Sosuke began to tell her about the teacher and his friends. Unfortunately, this meant bringing up a certain someone whom Ponyo probably wouldn't like.

"Are there any other friends you have Sosuke?" Ponyo asked.

Sosuke really didn't want to get into that, but there was no getting around it.

"Well, there is one more person."

"Who?"

"Well, her name is Kumiko. She is about my age and likes to wear dresses and hair-bows."

Now like I said, Ponyo was a very intelligent girl for her age. So she knew exactly whom Sosuke was talking about and her enthusiasm vanished.

"That's Kumiko?" asked Ponyo. "She's your friend? But she called me boring! And I don't like her!"

"I know Ponyo," Sosuke answered, "but she's not a bad person. She's nice…if you be nice to her."

"But she wasn't nice to me," Ponyo retorted.

"I know," Sosuke replied, "but sometimes we have to be good to other people, even when they aren't nice to us. Promise me you'll try to be nice to her?"

Ponyo pouted at this but she knew Sosuke was right.

"Okay," she said reluctantly.

"Good," said Lisa, who was listening to everything they said. "Now I want you two to be on your best behavior, okay?"

"Yes mom," the two replied.

Their trip down the winding road continued. And mark the word 'winding' because that's why Lisa shouldn't have taken the mountain road. Sosuke was having fun until he looked at Ponyo…who was not having fun. Now, Ponyo never drove in a car before as a human. She had never gone that fast before in her life. Indeed, Lisa was driving very fast. Ponyo enjoyed it at first but her mood changed about five minutes into the drive. The winding path of the road and the fast motion was making her feel nauseous.

"I don't feel good," she groaned.

Sosuke looked at her with concern.

"Mom," he said, "Ponyo is carsick."

"It's okay honey," Lisa told Ponyo. "Look out the window, but look at the sky."

"Okay," Ponyo said in a sickly voice.

She almost felt like throwing up but she looked out the window anyway. She sat on the ocean side and gazed out at the clear blue sky. She slowly began to feel better.

"Here Ponyo," Lisa offered. "Let me roll your window down so you can get some fresh air."

Lisa did so and Ponyo felt a rush of cool ocean air hit her face. Ponyo smiled. The scent of the ocean and the clear air really helped. Lisa then gave her a bottle of delicious ginger ale she took along and gave it to Ponyo.

"Here," she said, reaching back behind her seat.

Ponyo took it and drank. It was the oddest drink she ever took. It bubbled and tasted sour, sweet and tangy at the same time. But one thing was for sure, it sure made her feel better.

"Thanks mom," Ponyo said. "This stuff is weird, but I like it!"

"It's called ginger ale," Sosuke explained. "Mom always takes some ginger ale along in case someone gets sick."

"That's a good idea," Ponyo said.

After that, they finally entered town. Ponyo gazed at the busy activities taking place all about here. There were cars everywhere and ships in the harbor and people walking and bustling about. Flags waved atop flagpoles, seagulls flew over the harbor and Ponyo even saw a dolphin breaching in the bay. The sights and smells of the city were a new experience to Ponyo, or at least it felt that way. Ponyo's eyes widened in open-mouthed wonder. They eventually reached the dry-dock Lisa had to cross to get to the school. Lisa greeted the two workers. Ponyo had to do the same. She waved to them vigorously.

"Hi!" she shouted.

The workers waved back, not quite knowing what to think, and Ponyo giggled.

"They waved to me!" she said triumphantly as the car drove off. The two workers watched them go.

"You know," one of them said, "I remember that girl from somewhere."

"Wasn't that the girl Sosuke was riding with during the flood?"

"Yeah, that's it," the other man said. "I wonder what she is doing with Lisa and Sosuke."

After a nice drive, the family finally reached the nursery school and the senior center. Lisa pulled into the senior center's parking lot and stopped the car. Ponyo unbuckled her seatbelt, hopped out of the car and ran for the main door.

"We're here! We're here!" she shouted jubilantly. "Come on Sosuke! We're gonna be late!"

"Wait, wait!" Lisa shouted. Ponyo stopped short. "This isn't the nursery."

"The nursery is over there," Sosuke laughed.

Ponyo, amused and slightly embarrassed, skipped back to her family.

"Sorry," Ponyo said penitently.

"Okay Ponyo," Lisa said. "Now it's time for you and Sosuke to go to school and it's time for me to go to work."

"Okay mom," Ponyo said.

They said their goodbyes and gave each other hugs and kisses. Of course, Ponyo gave Lisa the most hugs and kisses. Lisa then walked to the main door, greeted a nurse and went inside. Ponyo stared after her. She suddenly felt a little alone. She really grew to love Lisa and seeing her go, well, I'm sure you can understand how she felt.

"Are you okay Ponyo?" asked Sosuke.

"I want to go with mommy," Ponyo said sadly. "I miss her already."

Sosuke smiled and put an arm around her shoulder.

"It's okay Ponyo," he said consolingly, "we'll see mom after school. Besides, you'll make new friends at school. It will be great!"

The prospect of making new friends cheered Ponyo up a little. The two ran to school, ready for the day and ready for whatever they would encounter.

* * *

So how was that?

"Wait! That's all you're going to say? What about school?"

"Yeah! We didn't get to the school part yet!"

I know kids, but I don't want to make my stories too long. If I did, you might get bored.

"Okay. But I still want to hear the school part."

And you will Sosuke, but now you two need to get ready and go to the restaurant.

"The restaurant! That's right! Sosuke, we have to go or we'll be late!"

"Okay! Bye Mr. Narrator! Thanks again!"

"Thanks! Bye!"

Ta-ta, and have fun!

"We will!"

Well, Ponyo is going to school now to learn things and see new sights. She's also off to make new friends, though her meeting with Kumiko might be interesting. What will happen next? Find out next time. Until then, goodbye and God bless!


	4. Ponyo goes to School

**Chapter 4 in which Ponyo goes to School**

And here you go…one mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

"Thanks."

You're welcome. Come again!

…

"Good job, young man. Why don't you take your lunch break now?"

Thanks boss.

(With that, I sit down at a table with a cup of coffee in hand. Then I hear the door open and a familiar voice.)

"Hi Mr. Narrator!"

Hey Ponyo! And if it isn't Sosuke and Lisa too? How's everything?

"We're doing just great."

"My kids were telling me about your stories. Thanks for keeping an eye on them."

Oh no problem ma'am. They're good kids.

"That's good."

"So you work here?"

Yes Ponyo.

"What do you do?"

Well Sosuke, I'm a barista.

"A what?"

I make coffee and other drinks for customers.

"Oh."

"Are you taking a break?"

Yep.

"So...can you tell more of the story?"

"Ponyo, this isn't the right time honey."

No, no Lisa. Now is perfect.

"Are you sure?"

I'm positive. Just let me get my lunch first. Do you three want anything?

"Nah, we're fine. We just ate. The kids would like some fruit punch though."

Sure. I'll be right back.

* * *

So it was, on that lovely and clear morning, Ponyo and Sosuke ran to the nursery school. Even from outside, Ponyo could hear the hustle and bustle of other kids her age. She could barely contain herself. New faces to meet and new discoveries to see!

"Come on Sosuke!" she exclaimed.

"Okay," Sosuke laughed.

At the threshold of the door, they stopped running. Hand in hand, the two entered the building. The first things Ponyo saw were drawings on the walls, bulletin boards she didn't understand and plastic baskets on the shelves against the walls. Each shelf had a cubbyhole with it's own name and basket inside. The cheerful clamor of playing children rang through the hall.

"Welcome to school Ponyo," Sosuke said.

Ponyo didn't respond. She was too enthralled at everything around her to notice. Ponyo wandered around the hall, looking at everything. She looked inside one of the baskets and saw a Ping-Pong paddle. She almost grabbed it but Sosuke stopped her.

"You can't touch other people's stuff Ponyo," Sosuke said. "That would make them mad and the teacher mad too."

"Oh," said Ponyo. "I didn't know."

"That's alright Ponyo. You just have to keep your hands to yourself."

"Okay."

Ponyo and Sosuke took their shoes off and Sosuke put his shoes in his very own basket. Ponyo looked and right next to Sosuke's cubbyhole was a cubbyhole with an empty red basket inside it. What caught her attention was the fact that nothing was in there.

"Sosuke," she pointed out, "this one is empty."

Sosuke smiled.

"That's because it's yours."

Ponyo's eyes widened at this revelation.

"Mine? I get my very own basket?"

"Yep. You put your stuff in it like what I did."

Ponyo then took her shoes and put them in the basket.

"Like that?" she inquired.

"Mm-hmm," Sosuke answered. "Just like that. Now come on; I want to show you where we all play and learn."

Ponyo danced with glee. Having her own basket to put her own things in meant a lot to her. After all, she never owned anything before she became a human. There was just something special about being given something to call your own.

Sosuke took Ponyo by the hand and they entered the main room. It was a large room with plenty of room to play, study and read and do all sorts of other stuff. Ponyo gazed in wonder at the children playing with the wide variety of toys. Then she gazed at the childish scribbles and paintings on the wall. She looked at the books on the shelf and colorfully patterned rug on the floor. There was so much for her to see. Posters, flash cards, photographs, you name it.

"This place is fantastic!" she exclaimed.

Sosuke laughed and showed Ponyo various stuff including crayons, papers, books, blocks and bouncy balls. Ponyo had a hard time paying attention to Sosuke. Her mind flitted from one wonder to another. She would take Sosuke by the hand and practically drag him to something to ask about it. Sosuke didn't mind this at all. He would laugh and explain the curiosity that held her attention at the moment. He liked explaining things; it made him feel important and useful.

Ponyo in the meantime ran around the room until she collided with a large person. She looked up and saw a friendly, middle-aged woman looking down at her.

"Oops," said Ponyo, "sorry ma'am."

"That's alright," said the woman. "You must be Ponyo, the new student. Lisa told me about you."

"Yep!" said Ponyo. "Lisa is my mommy now! Did she tell you I was a fish?"

Sosuke tensed up at that remark. He was going to say something but Sensei just laughed. Unlike most adults, she had a good head regarding unusual occurrences. Even as a child, she had a vivid imagination and she seemed to take that imagination into her adulthood.

"Yes, Lisa told me about what happened," Sensei said. Sosuke sighed heavily in relief. "I wouldn't mention this to the other students yet. Okay?"

"Yes Sensei," said Ponyo politely.

And so Sensei took Ponyo by the hand and taught her the rules. Ponyo was not allowed to mess with anything that belonged to other people unless they said yes. Also, if someone was using something, Ponyo couldn't take it or use it unless that person said she could. Ponyo also had to listen to the teacher when she spoke to the class. There were plenty of other rules she taught Ponyo, but she didn't teach her so much that she couldn't remember any of it. Ponyo took her first lesson well and promised to follow the rules.

"That's a good girl Ponyo," said Sensei cheerily. "Now go and make some friends."

"Okay," Ponyo said happily.

With that, Sensei left the kids alone and Ponyo ran to meet some new people.

The first person she met was a girl with long brown hair tied into two large pigtails. She wore a pink sweater, grey pants and white slip-on shoes. Sosuke introduced her. Ponyo bounced a little with excitement.

"Hey Karen," Sosuke said.

The girl looked up from her puzzle.

"Hi Sosuke," she said. Then her eyes darted to Ponyo. "Oh. Who is she?"

"This is Ponyo," Sosuke announced proudly. "She is my adopted sister!"

"Really? You have a new sister?" asked Karen. Then she introduced herself to Ponyo. "Hi Ponyo. My name is Karen."

"Hi Karen!" said Ponyo cheerily. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm putting together a puzzle. Wanna help?"

Ponyo gladly accepted the offer. Sosuke joined in the fun too. Karen and Ponyo talked a lot about their favorite colors, favorite foods, where they live and how they like their families.

"I love my new family!" said Ponyo with joy.

"Yeah. I love my family too," said Karen. "It's not new, but I still like it."

"What do you do?" asked Ponyo.

"We play games, go to the zoo and do other things families do."

"What's a zoo?" asked Ponyo.

Well, the three children rambled on and on like children do for a while until the puzzle was finished. And so it was that Ponyo made her first friend.

After completing the puzzle, Sosuke took Ponyo to see more of his classmates to proudly introduce his new sister. Some of the children didn't take to her as well but she still made many new friends. Then came Kumiko's turn. Sosuke told Ponyo that he was going to introduce them.

"So you have to be nice, right?" Sosuke said.

"Okay," Ponyo said a little reluctantly.

"Remember Ponyo, we have to be nice to other people, even when they aren't nice to us."

Ponyo was still reluctant about meeting Kumiko but she still agreed to it. With that, Sosuke took her to see Kumiko. Kumiko saw the two approach and got up. She was certainly happy to see Sosuke.

"Hi Sosuke!" she said cheerily.

"Hi Kumiko," Sosuke said happily. "This is Ponyo, my adopted sister."

"Hi," said Ponyo politely.

"Hi Ponyo," said Kumiko. "I think I've seen you before." Ponyo nodded. "Yeah," Kumiko continued. "You we're riding with Sosuke on that boat when…"

She stopped short. The name "Ponyo" sounded familiar. Then she remembered!

"You're a girl!"

"Mm-hmm," said Ponyo cheerily. Hearing someone call her a girl was satisfying, even if it was Kumiko. It was yet another reminder that she was human. In fact, Ponyo was about ready to get along with Kumiko thanks to that comment. "I'm a human now! I can run and jump and be with Sosuke and…"

Unfortunately, Kumiko wasn't nearly as cheery or cooperative.

"You squirted water in my face and got my dress wet!" Kumiko interrupted.

Her rudeness took Ponyo aback. Any ideas about getting along with Kumiko pretty much died at that moment.

"But you said I was boring," she replied, desperately trying to keep herself from getting mad.

"You made a bad face at me!" Kumiko retorted.

"Um, Kumiko?" Sosuke said, trying to keep the two from fighting.

Ponyo was now officially unhappy, but she knew that she had to be on her best behavior.

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Ponyo half-heartedly.

I'm sorry to say that Kumiko was not in a very agreeable mood.

"Just go away and leave me alone," Kumiko said a little sharply.

"I said I'm sorry," Ponyo retorted. She was starting to get angry.

"I don't care." Kumiko snapped. "Just go away. I don't like you!"

That was it. Ponyo lost her temper.

"Okay fine! I don't like you either," she said in a huffy sort of voice. Then, with an indignant "humph," she marched away and plopped down on the rug.

Sosuke, who never liked conflict, was troubled by what just happened and couldn't say anything. Finally he turned to Kumiko.

"That wasn't nice Kumiko," he said in a slightly indignant tone.

"Your stupid goldfish acted grumpy and made my dress wet!" retorted Kumiko.

"That was long ago," replied Sosuke. "She's different now. Besides, it's not nice to call people stupid."

"Just keep her away from me," said Kumiko. On that note, she marched off.

Sosuke looked at her go. He was angry with her for being mean to Ponyo, even if she was right about Ponyo's behavior in the past. He then went over to Ponyo, who was sitting on the floor and weeping.

"Ponyo?" he asked gently.

"She called me a stupid goldfish," she sobbed.

"I know," Sosuke said. "Kumiko can be like that at times."

"I tried to be good Sosuke," she said sadly. She wiped her eyes. "Why was she so mean?"

"Well," Sosuke explained, "she still isn't happy that you squirted water on her and gave her a bad look."

"But she looked at me funny."

"Ponyo, you probably should have been nice to her first when you were still a fish. She isn't a bad girl really. She can be very nice if you behave."

Ponyo sighed. Sosuke was right but she didn't want to admit it.

"Let's go do something," Sosuke offered. "That will cheer you up!"

Ponyo washed her face in the bathroom sink to clean the tears off. Then she went with Sosuke to go play. But then it was time for Sensei to start teaching so playing would have to wait.

"Okay class," Sensei said, "before we get started, we have a new student. Ponyo, can you come here please?"

"Yes ma'am," Ponyo said. She walked up to the teacher's side and the teacher put an arm around her shoulder. Ponyo, in response, hugged the teacher. The children laughed a little at this, but not in a mean way. Ponyo then stopped hugging Sensei and looked at the class.

"Children, this is you new classmate Ponyo."

"Hi Ponyo!" the students all greeted.

"Hi!" Ponyo said cheerily. She waved at everybody and some of them waved back.

"So, tell us about yourself Ponyo," Sensei said.

"Okay," she began. She then cleared her throat. "Ahem. My name is Ponyo and I'm five years old. My favorite food is ham and my best friend is my new brother Sosuke and my parents Lisa and Koichi. I love them very much."

"That's nice Ponyo," Sensei said. "Anything else?"

"Yeah! Mom got me new shoes and they are really nice and she is going to buy me a bed really soon!" The children laughed a little. Again, it was all in good spirit. "And I want to learn new things and all sorts of stuff! Can I sit next to Sosuke now?"

Sensei laughed. "Yes you may."

Ponyo skipped down to where her brother sat and sat down cross-legged next to him. Sosuke nudged her.

"You did great," he said. Ponyo responded with a little kiss on the cheek. Sosuke smiled and didn't notice his face turning red.

And so the day progressed. Ponyo learned how to behave around other students and grown-ups. She also learned the very basics of reading and writing and how to add and subtract. After class and during playtime, Ponyo spent the time playing with toys with her friends. She liked every toy she played with. She span tops, shot marbles, used marble chutes, made clay shapes and even played with a play baking set. She especially took a fancy to building blocks. At one point, Sensei walked in the main room to check on everyone and found that a rather impressive walled city inhabited by a clay figure population had somehow popped up in the middle of the floor. Basic towers and houses with flat roofs took up a good area of the floor. Ponyo, Sosuke, Karen and two twin boys were at work. Sensei looked at the city in astonishment.

"I made this city!" Ponyo said with pride. "I had lots of help though."

"She built the towers all by herself!" said Sosuke with pride.

"I made the wall," Karen remarked, "and Nao and Naoki made the houses."

"Yep!" said the two boys. "Sosuke helped with almost everything though."

"That's amazing children," Sensei said.

With that, the children resumed their work.

Another interesting incident occurred when Ponyo got her hands on a set of small rubber balls.

"It's a ball," she remarked.

"It bounces," Karen said.

"It goes like this," Sosuke said. He then demonstrated how a bouncy ball worked.

Ponyo watched it bounce in fascination. She then decided to try. She soon learned that the harder it hit the floor, the higher it bounced. With that, and before Karen and Sosuke could stop her, she gleefully threw it down on the hard floor with all her might. Up went the ball, and down came a set of Styrofoam ceiling decorations. The kids just stood there, not knowing whether they should laugh or not.

Now there was one activity Ponyo liked above every other indoor activity: drawing. Sosuke showed her how to make drawings with crayons and Ponyo just went with it. She loved the crayons themselves. She liked the feel, the smell and the myriad of colors. She even put a crayon tip in her mouth. It tasted funny, but she actually kinda liked it. She probably would have eaten it if Sosuke didn't stop her in time. Then she started to draw. Moving the crayon over the surface of the paper felt really good to Ponyo. She also really liked creating things. So she drew and drew and drew. Before school was over, she made ten drawings of people, the room and even a curious one that caught Sosuke's attention.

"What's that Ponyo?" he asked.

"Oh, that's my father's submarine. And those are my sisters."

Ponyo gazed at her picture for a while. Sosuke couldn't help but notice a change in demeanor over Ponyo's face.

"Are you okay Ponyo?" Sosuke asked.

"I think so," Ponyo replied. "I guess I…well…"

"You miss them?"

Ponyo was really reluctant to answer that question. She had wanted so hard to be a human. And now she was feeling a strange feeling like she wanted to see the ocean and her original family again.

"Maybe a little."

"It's okay Ponyo," Sosuke said assuringly. "I'm sure you'll see them again. Maybe we can have them visit or something."

"That might be nice," Ponyo said. "But I want to stay with you. I can't miss them. I don't want to go back to the ocean."

"You don't have to. You can stay here. We just have to find a way for your family to visit."

"Really?"

"Yep. And I'll find a way to do it too."

Ponyo smiled. She was truly blessed to have a wonderful and caring brother like Sosuke. Then she showed him a picture of herself and Sosuke holding hands.

"That's you and me."

"It's really nice Ponyo," said Sosuke in amazement. It was a basic drawing, but still it was quite good for a five-year-old's work. "I'm not very good at drawing. You are really good and you've only had hands for not too long. How do you do it?"

"I don't know," Ponyo said carelessly. "I guess I just like…"

"Can I see?" asked a familiar, and not necessarily welcome voice. Ponyo frowned at Kumiko's arrival but still let her see the picture. Unlike Sosuke, Kumiko was not impressed. After all, she happened to be a good drawer herself.

"That's a silly picture! I can draw better than that!"

"No you can't!" retorted Ponyo.

"Yes I can!" Kumiko responded. "I'll prove it!"

"Okay fine. Draw Sosuke and me!" Ponyo challenged.

"Okay I will," Kumiko replied.

With that, Kumiko sat down, took a piece of paper and studiously drew her picture with a bunch of crayons. After about five minutes she proudly displayed her picture.

"Okay Sosuke, who can draw better: Ponyo or me?"

Sosuke looked at both. To be honest, Kumiko's picture looked better, but Sosuke liked Ponyo's picture better. He wanted to be fair and honest, but he also didn't want to hurt Ponyo's feelings, especially since she had less experience. Also, this pointless bickering was getting on Sosuke's nerves.

"So Sosuke?" asked Kumiko.

With that, he made his decision.

"You both can draw good," he said in an annoyed voice. "Now can we please stop fighting?"

Kumiko walked away and Ponyo pouted. After that, she grabbed a red crayon and viciously attacked a blank sheet of paper with jagged scribbles. Then she slumped onto the floor.

"Why does she have to ruin everything?" she asked in a forlorn tone.

"Kumiko has a little bit of a temper," Sosuke explained.

"Yeah, a very bad one," retorted Ponyo.

"Don't worry about Kumiko," Sosuke said. "I'm sure things will get better soon."

"Maybe," Ponyo pouted. "Was my picture better?"

Sosuke smiled.

"Kumiko's looked better, but I don't care. I like your picture much better. If I had to take one home, I'd take your picture home."

Ponyo smiled. Now it didn't matter that Kumiko's looked better. What was important to her was Sosuke's approval…and he approved of her picture.

I'm sorry to say that Ponyo didn't cheer up much for the rest of her time at school. Whenever Kumiko passed by, Ponyo would feel gloomy and angry, and Kumiko would feel huffy and indignant. For the most part, Ponyo got through the first day of school fine though and soon it was time to go. Everyone was excused and started to leave. Ponyo and Sosuke slipped on their shoes and prepared to leave. Before leaving, Ponyo walked up to Sensei to say thank you and goodbye.

"So did you have a nice day?" asked Sensei.

"Mm-hmm, except Kumiko made me mad," Ponyo said.

"Why is that?" Sensei asked.

"She acted really mean to me," Ponyo said.

"Why? Did you do something mean to her?" asked Sensei.

"Well…a while ago I did" Ponyo confessed.

"Perhaps you should apologize. But you have to really mean it when you say you're sorry."

"Maybe," Ponyo said. Apologizing to Kumiko didn't sound like any fun at all.

"Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of the day."

Ponyo perked up at that comment. "Oh yeah! I really did have fun. Thank you for teaching me all those things. I want to learn more tomorrow!"

"And you will learn more tomorrow."

"Great!"

With that, Ponyo gave the teacher a hug and said goodbye. Most of the children's parents were there to pick the kids up. But Sosuke had another plan.

"Is mom picking us up?" asked Ponyo.

"Nope," Sosuke replied. "Now we're going to visit my friends at the senior center. Mom will take us home from there."

Ponyo smiled and nodded. With that, the two children said goodbye and ducked through an opening in a bamboo fence. There, about sixty feet away, was a beautiful building with green roofs, a clock tower with a steeple on top, and half of a multi-colored tented roof above a roof garden. The roof garden was planted atop a platform shading the main entrance to the building. Ponyo looked in amazement at the colorful building before her eyes.

"It's beautiful!" said Ponyo in an awestruck tone.

"That's the senior center," Sosuke explained. "That's where elderly people are taken care of and it's where Mom works. I have some friends there I'd love for you to see."

Ponyo was excited. There at the senior center were new faces just waiting to meet her.

* * *

So kids, how was that?

"That was nice, but I didn't like it when Ponyo got mad."

"That wasn't very nice of me."

I'm afraid not Ponyo.

"But later on I did…"

No, no, no Ponyo. Don't spoil anything. If others hear this tale, we should let them figure out what happens later.

"Yeah, otherwise it would spoil the surprise."

"Okay."

"Well kids, we still have some shopping to do. Thanks for the story; it's a great story."

No problem Lisa. Come again sometime.

"I will."

"Bye Mr. Narrator!"

Bye kids.

Well, Ponyo's first day at school was rather eventful. She made new friends and learned new things. Unfortunately, she also made a new rival in Kumiko. How will their rivalry turn out? And what will happen at the senior center? Find out next time. Have a great day and God bless!


	5. Ponyo Meets the Elders

**Chapter 5 in which Ponyo Meets the Elders**

(Knock, knock…)

Who could that be?

"Hi Mr. Narrator."

Hi Sosuke. What's the matter? Where's Ponyo?

"She couldn't come today. She has a cold."

Oh. That's too bad.

"Yeah. Mom is keeping an eye on her."

Well I hope she feels better.

"Me too."

So, what brings you here?

"I was wondering if you could tell me more of the story so I could record it. Ponyo really wanted to hear more."

Ah.

"Mom let me borrow a recorder. I was thinking of recording you talking and then I could play it for Ponyo when I got home."

Sure Sosuke, go ahead.

"Thanks."

Well then…ahem…the next chapter.

* * *

Ponyo and Sosuke walked from the hustle and bustle of the nursery school to the quiet and calm of the senior center. Ponyo quivered with excitement as they approached the two glass doors at the front of the building.

"Now, you have to be quiet when you go inside," Sosuke instructed.

"Okay," said Ponyo in a chipper voice.

"And remember to treat them with respect and be very polite."

"Why?" asked Ponyo. It wasn't that she didn't want to treat them respectfully. She merely wanted to know why they had to be treated that way.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Sosuke replied. "They need love and care just like everybody else. And since they are older, we "

"Like you and me?"

"Yep."

With that, they stepped onto the concrete threshold before the two doors. Ponyo reached out to open the doors, but she didn't need to. All of a sudden, they opened by themselves. Ponyo gasped, backed away from these seemingly magical doors and pointed.

"They…they opened by themselves!" she said, a little surprised, excited and frightened at the same time. "Is it magic?"

Sosuke couldn't help laughing.

"Nope. It's not magic," he said. "Mom says they are built that way. They are run by…um…electricity. Yeah."

"Oh," Ponyo said with a nod. Her father taught her what electricity was. "I didn't know that electricity could open doors."

"I don't know exactly how it works," Sosuke confessed, "but I do know that electricity has something to do with it."

"Okay," Ponyo said. The whole electric door thing was very interesting, but she had an even more important job to do: meet Sosuke's friends.

Inside the center, it was cool compared to the heat of the day. Ponyo almost took her shoes off but Sosuke stopped her.

"Sorry Ponyo," he said, "but we keep our shoes on in here."

"But we take them off in other buildings," Ponyo remarked.

"Mm-hmm, but in here we keep them on," Sosuke replied.

Ponyo nodded and decided to trust Sosuke.

They looked around. It was very quiet. Other than the occasional bustling of a nurse, there wasn't much movement in this place. Ponyo looked with delight at everything from potted plants to colorful books on shelves and curiously patterned vases. She especially liked the lovely photographs and paintings on the walls.

"Those are pretty!" she remarked. "Who made that?"

"I don't know actually."

"Someday, I want to draw like that."

"If you practice a lot, you can," Sosuke assured her. "But that's not a drawing. It's a painting."

"A painting?"

"Yeah. They don't use crayons or pencils. They use something called paint and they spread the paint with brushes on paper and stuff like that."

"Brushes? Like my hairbrush?"

"No, a different kind of brush."

Ponyo nodded, trying to make sense of it all when suddenly Sosuke took her by the arm and pointed.

"Look! There's Yoshie. She is one of my friends and she is very nice. So you have to be nice too."

"Okay," Ponyo said. "Does she know I was a fish?"

"Mm-hmm," Sosuke said. "Everyone here knows you were a fish."

With that, Sosuke took Ponyo to meet Yoshie.

In the meantime, Yoshie was seated on a comfortable chair quietly reading a magazine about travel. She was so wrapped up in her magazine that she didn't see the two children approach.

"Hi Yoshie," said Sosuke.

Yoshie looked up, saw the two children and smiled, for she loved Sosuke as if he was her own grandson. She set the magazine down and looked at the youngsters.

"Good afternoon Sosuke. Does your mother know you're here?"

"Yes Yoshie," Sosuke said with a smile. "She always knows I'm here."

Yoshie chuckled and then looked at Ponyo, who was feeling a little shy. This was the first elder she had met and she wanted to act correctly.

"Well, who is this?" Yoshie asked.

"This is Ponyo. Remember Ponyo? My new sister?"

"Oh yes, I remember now. Hello Ponyo."

"Hi Yoshie-san" Ponyo said bashfully. She remembered the proper way to greet adults, but with Yoshie, it wasn't really necessary.

"Please call me Yoshie."

"Okay Yoshie," Ponyo said.

"So Ponyo, how do you like your new home?"

With that question, all shyness was replaced by an eagerness to talk about her new life.

"Oh I love it!" she said cheerily. "I love my new home. It such a big place and I can run around wherever I want, unless mommy says I can't. I got to make breakfast today and I got a ham sandwich for lunch. I also went to school and that was fun."

"What did you do in school?"

"I drew and learned a little about reading and writing. I learned how to add too. I even made new friends."

"Oh that's wonderful. Did you learn how to count?"

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo chirped excitedly, "and I even learned how to add! Watch!" With that Ponyo looked around the room trying to find things to add. She decided to use three paintings on a wall. "See there? Okay. Well, there's one painting (she held up one finger) and another painting (she held up another finger) and another painting (she held up a third finger). That's one plus one plus one. That makes three!"

"Very good. Now, can you add five plus five?"

"That's ten Yoshie," said another voice playfully. "Can't you count?"

Ponyo wanted to answer that question, but the way the other person said 'can't you count' made Ponyo laugh. The very idea of a grown-up who couldn't count sounded funny.

"Noriko," Yoshie said in a mild scolding voice, "I was testing little Ponyo here."

The children turned and saw another elderly friend of Sosuke's.

"Hi Noriko!" greeted Sosuke joyously.

"Hello Sosuke," she greeted. Then she turned to the girl. "Hi Ponyo."

"Hi Noriko-san," Ponyo greeted happily and politely. She wasn't shy anymore.

"Please…just Noriko," the elder asked.

"Okay."

And so it was that Ponyo and elders got to know each other better. She already loved these wonderful people. Yoshie even let Ponyo sit on her lap. Then the magazine Yoshie was reading caught Ponyo's eye and she picked it up.

"What's this?" she asked.

"That's a travel magazine," Yoshie responded. Ponyo thumbed through the pages and gazed in wonder at the many colorful and exotic pictures of faraway places.

"This is amazing. Have you been to these places?"

"Some of them I have, but not all of them."

"She used to love traveling," Noriko remarked nostalgically. "She always wanted to see new things and meet new people."

"That's what I want to do!" Ponyo said. "I want to see new things and meet new people too!"

"That's good," Yoshie said. "I think that traveling and learning about other people helps to make us smarter. Also, I had a great curiosity when I was younger."

"Do you miss traveling?" Ponyo asked.

"Sometimes, but not really. I'm old and…I'm content with staying here now. Traveling was fun, but now I'm happy being at home where I belong."

Ponyo nodded. She now knew what it was like to be truly happy in a home too.

"Mm-hmm."

"Do you miss your old home Ponyo?"

Ponyo paused.

"Well…no." Then she thought about it a little more. "Maybe a little. I miss my sisters and I can't breathe underwater anymore. And I kinda miss when my father got flustered when a potion went wrong. Yes I do miss my old home, but I'm happy here."

"Yep. And I promised Ponyo that I would find a way for her to visit her home," assured Sosuke confidently. "I'm sure there's a way."

"That would be nice," Noriko stated.

"What would be nice?" asked a gruff voice. They all looked in the direction the voice came from and saw an elderly woman wearing a blue dress, yellow neckerchief and brown shoes.

The woman was Toki, the third elder Sosuke knew very well. She walked over to where they were all gathered since she no longer needed her wheelchair. She still often rode it when she didn't fell like walking, but not now.

"Oh hello Toki," said Yoshie.

"Hi Toki-san," said Sosuke.

"Hello," said Toki shortly. "What were you talking about?"

"We were talking about Sosuke's idea to have Ponyo visit her old home," Noriko answered.

"Hmm," said Toki in a short voice.

Ponyo looked at Toki with great unease. She recognized Toki as the grouchy lady who insulted her (even if she didn't mean to) and asked Sosuke to put her back in the ocean. Toki also made that comment about Ponyo causing a tsunami (which, of course, actually happened). As you can understand, Ponyo wanted to shout something or do something rude, but she knew that she had to be on her best behavior.

"Hi Toki-san," she said in a rather stiff voice. She was really trying not to get upset like she did with Kumiko.

"Hi Ponyo," Toki said. "Feel like causing another storm little one?"

Wow. Toki just won the "worst comment you could possibly make at the worst possible time" award. Now, she meant it in fun but Ponyo didn't know that. With that, she burst into tears and about exploded.

"I didn't mean to do it!" she bawled at Toki. "I didn't! And I'm not going back to the ocean! I don't belong there! I don't!"

Before anybody could respond to that, Ponyo ran off.

"Ponyo!" called Sosuke. But it was too late. Ponyo vanished behind the corner of the building. Lisa then ran into view.

"What's going on?" she asked. "I heard Ponyo yelling."

"Your daughter has quite a temper," Toki said bluntly. "I don't know if she learned manners in school today, but you could give her some lessons."

"We did learn manners in class today," Sosuke remarked.

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Now Toki," Yoshie remarked, "she was obviously remembering that time when you asked Sosuke to put her back in the ocean. That's what upset her."

"Mmm," Toki grumbled. She didn't really like being told she was in the wrong. "Perhaps you're right. Now if you'll excuse me."

"No, no. Don't leave Toki," Lisa said. But Toki wouldn't have it.

"I'll give her some time to think over what she did. If she's going to apologize, I'd rather she did it and meant it, not because you told her to."

Lisa sighed. Toki was right. What was the point of making a person apologize if they didn't mean it? With that, Toki entered a room off to the side.

"I'm sorry," apologized Lisa.

"Don't worry Lisa, it's not your fault," Noriko remarked.

"Sosuke, find Ponyo. We have to go home now," Lisa ordered.

"Yes mom," said Sosuke and off he went to find Ponyo. He sighed. Who knew that having another sister could be so difficult. He resolved to put the best face on it, at least as best as he could. Hopefully this wouldn't happen again, he thought. But if it did, he knew that he and Lisa were there to set Ponyo right. He hoped that maybe tomorrow would be a better day. But now, there was nothing for him to do but find Ponyo.

He finally found her crying in a corner outside the building. He took Ponyo to Lisa and Lisa drove the two children home. Lisa was not happy at all with Ponyo's behavior.

"That was very bad Ponyo," she said in a stern but reserved tone.

Ponyo didn't respond. She just looked gloomy.

"We're gonna have a talk when we get home," she continued.

Ponyo still didn't respond. She knew she was in trouble. She seemed to forget about all that went well on that day. A lot of things she had hoped would go well ended up going really poorly. So much for her first full day on land.

* * *

"Is that all?"

That's all for now.

"But…but that wasn't a happy story!"

I know, but life isn't always a happy story. Right?

"Right, but Ponyo won't like this as much. She'll feel really bad."

Hmm. Maybe you should tell her the story instead of playing my recording.

"Maybe."

I mean, she might take it better hearing it from you. Besides, you can tell the story in a way that won't make her feel so bad.

"Okay. Yeah, that's a really good idea."

Oh and remember, this isn't the end of the story, right? There's still more story left to tell.

"That's true."

So go ahead and run along now. I think your mom is waiting to pick you up.

"Okay. Bye and thank you."

Goodbye Sosuke…and I hope Ponyo feels better.

"Yeah, me too. Bye!"

Well, um…that ended well. So Ponyo is feeling her first hurt and is now in trouble for the first time. Her first day didn't turn out like she wanted. So what now? What happens next? Find out next time. Until then, goodbye and God bless!


	6. Ponyo Learns her Lesson

**Chapter 6 in which Ponyo Learns her Lesson and Makes a Promise**

(Knock, knock.)

I bet that's Sosuke. Come in!

"Hi. Mr. Narrator."

Hey Sosuke! Glad you could make it! So how's Ponyo? Is she feeling any better?

"A little, but she is still sick."

Well, I'm glad she's a little better.

"Mom made her some chicken soup today. I think that will help a lot."

Me too. So did you want to hear more?

"Mm-hmm. But, does this one have a happier ending? I told Ponyo the other story and she wants a happier one."

Well…I'll tell you what. How about you listen and you decide if you want to tell Ponyo this story. How does that sound?

"Okay."

Good. Take a seat. I'll get you some water and then I'll tell you some more.

* * *

Corners in a house can be lonely places. All one sees is a dull meeting between two plain and unmarked walls. No one else really goes there, so if you're in a corner, you're all alone with nowhere to go and nothing to see. It's just you and your thoughts. That's where Ponyo was sent when she came home: a corner in the living room. Ponyo never felt so alone. She could hear people talking and hear activities going on but she couldn't be a part of it. Sosuke wasn't allowed to talk to her either. As you can imagine, it was all very miserable, and all because she lost her temper.

"Why did I lose my temper?" she thought to herself.

She wished she had never blown up like that. She wished she never looked at Kumiko funny. This was all her fault and she knew it. She began to cry.

After about ten minutes of weeping, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her heart leapt and she wheeled around. There was Lisa. She was still stern, but Ponyo would take a stern person over no person at all.

"Come with me Ponyo," Lisa said.

Lisa took Ponyo upstairs into Sosuke's room. Then they both sat down on the bed, but they were not next to each other. They didn't say anything for a while. Finally, Lisa spoke.

"Ponyo, I'm very disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry mom," Ponyo said with a quivering voice. "I didn't mean to. I…I was so upset."

"Ponyo, you said you would be on your best behavior."

"I know," Ponyo cried, "and I tried. I really tried. I didn't want to yell or be mean. I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

With that, Ponyo sobbed penitently. Lisa let her cry for a while. After a few minutes Lisa said, "Ponyo, come here please."

Ponyo looked at her with teary eyes and slowly edged near her. Finally Lisa gently placed an arm around Ponyo's shoulder. Ponyo embraced Lisa and sobbed.

"I'm sorry mom," she said in a repentant and sad voice. "I don't want to be a bad girl."

Lisa didn't respond in words. She merely hugged Ponyo and kissed her head. Then Lisa set her right next to her side and sighed.

"Ponyo, I know you're sorry, but you know, feeling sorry isn't enough. You have to prove you're sorry by doing better."

"How?" Ponyo asked.

"Well...maybe I should ask a different question first. Why don't you like Kumiko?" Lisa asked.

"When I was a fish, she said I was the most boring goldfish she every saw. I got mad at that and squirted her. I now remember that I started it because I looked away from her with an unhappy look. I guess I didn't like her when I saw her. I don't know why."

"Well Ponyo, what do you think about that?" Lisa inquired.

Ponyo knew what she had to do.

"I did wrong…and I have to say sorry."

"That's right," Lisa said.

"I really am sorry I acted like that. I wish I never did it."

"That's a good start," Lisa said encouragingly.

"But," considered Ponyo, "what if she doesn't forgive me?"

"Then don't get mad. Just let it go. You did what you were supposed to do. You can't make another person forgive you."

"Okay mom."

"But no matter what, you have to treat her well. Don't fight with her and don't tease her. Treat her as you would a friend. Otherwise, I recommend you leave her alone if she wants to be left alone."

"Yes mom," Ponyo said in a slightly optimistic voice. She was a good girl at heart and eager to fix her mistakes, so this conversation filled her with hope. Then she remembered Toki. "I should say sorry to Toki too. I really wish I didn't act like that."

"Yes, you should apologize. Why did you yell like that anyway?"

"Toki told Sosuke to put me back in the ocean and she also said something weird about my face. Then today, she said something about me causing a tsunami and that really made me upset."

"Yes. I can see why you reacted like that, but that was a while ago. Also, when she mentioned the tsunami, the others told me she was joking."

"Okay. I didn't know."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll say sorry. In fact, I'll do that tomorrow!" said Ponyo in a hopeful voice. Maybe things were going to work out well after all. "And I'll draw a picture for her too to show her I'm sorry."

Lisa smiled at Ponyo's eagerness to be a good girl.

"That's very good."

Ponyo then looked at Lisa again with a solemn look on her face.

"Mom," she asked, "do you forgive me?"

Lisa looked at her for a while, smiled and smothered her in a tremendous hug. Ponyo squeaked and grunted and then laughed.

"You're such a good girl!" Lisa said cheerily and lovingly. "Yes Ponyo, I forgive you. Will you promise to do better?"

"Yes mom," Ponyo said, "I promise. I promise to be a good girl forever."

"Good."

"Do you love me?"

Lisa looked at Ponyo with a motherly expression and cradled her in her lap.

"Yes Ponyo. I love you."

"I love you too mommy."

Ponyo curled up in her mom's lap. Then a troubling thought entered Ponyo's mind.

"Mom?" she asked.

"Yes honey?"

"That storm…was it my fault?"

That was a difficult question for Lisa to answer. How could she answer without devastating Ponyo's feelings? She thought for a while and then spoke gently to her daughter.

"You may have caused it, but it was an accident. You didn't know better."

"Did people die?" Ponyo asked in a quiet yet terrified voice. "Did anybody lose their houses?"

"No Ponyo," Lisa answered truthfully. "No one died. Your mother's magic in the waters didn't let that happen. As for houses, when everything went back to normal, the houses went back to normal too."

Ponyo smiled. She curled up in her mom's lap and Lisa caressed her hair and rocked her like a baby. She felt peaceful and loved once more. Everything was the way it should be. Ponyo almost fell asleep when Lisa spoke again.

"Well, don't go to sleep just yet. We're having ham for dinner."

Yep. Lisa said the magic word. Ponyo's eyes shot open and she nearly flipped out of Lisa's lap.

"Ham?" she exclaimed. "I get to have HAM for dinner?"

"Yep," Lisa said. "So let's go downstairs and have dinner!"

"Ham, ham, ham!" Ponyo chanted jubilantly. With that, the two went downstairs.

Downstairs, Ponyo greeted Sosuke with a hug.

"Hi Ponyo," he said. "Are you feeling better?"

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo said. "Mommy and I had a talk and I promised I would be a good girl. I know what to do now!"

"That's good," Sosuke said.

"I can't wait until tomorrow. But first I want some ham."

Sosuke smiled at this comment.

Then Lisa cooked a delicious dinner of fried ham and rice wrapped in nori with a salad. Then they all sat together and ate a wonderful meal. And while they ate, Ponyo chatted on and on about everything good that happened that day. Lisa then told her story about what she did while they were at school. After dinner, the family all had a delicious dessert of hot-fudge sundaes. Ponyo wanted two bowls but Lisa told her that she needed to watch what she ate.

"You need to stay healthy Ponyo," Lisa explained. "It's good for your body, which means you'll be a strong and healthy girl while you grow."

"Really?" asked Ponyo.

"Yep," Lisa replied.

Well, Lisa knew best, so Ponyo didn't question it.

After dinner, Ponyo and Sosuke brushed their teeth and got ready for bed. After changing into his pajamas, Sosuke ran downstairs to say goodnight to Lisa. He found her in the kitchen finishing the dishes.

"Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight Sosuke. Where's Ponyo?"

"Huh?" He looked to his side. Sure enough, Ponyo wasn't there. "Ponyo? I thought she was here."

"Ponyo?" called Lisa.

They looked for her and found her hard at work in Sosuke's bedroom. She was dressed in a peach-colored nightgown and was sitting cross-legged on Sosuke's bed with a book in her lap. On the book was a sheet of paper, and on the bed was a colorful mess of crayons.

"Ponyo?" inquired Sosuke.

"Oh, hi Sosuke. Hi mommy," she said.

Lisa chuckled. "What are you doing honey?"

"I'm working."

Sosuke went to her side. "What are you drawing?"

"Here." With that, she showed him the paper. "I'm not done yet."

"It's very nice," Sosuke said. "Mom, look at this!"

Lisa walked over. "What is it honey?"

"Look, Ponyo made another picture."

Lisa looked at the picture and smiled.

"This is very nice Ponyo. I didn't know you could draw."

"I didn't know that either," Ponyo said cheerily. "I just…love to draw. I like using my hands and drawing makes me feel good. I also like the colors."

"Well you sure have a good eye," Lisa remarked. "But it's getting late and you have school tomorrow. So let's get some sleep."

"Okay mommy," Ponyo said. Lisa helped Ponyo clean up her mess while teaching her how important it is to be neat. After the mess was clean, Lisa tucked Ponyo and Sosuke into their respective beds.

"Can you tell us a story mom?" asked Sosuke.

"A story?" Ponyo asked eagerly. She hadn't had a story told to her in a very long time. "I want to hear a story!"

"Well, all right," said Lisa.

"Yay!" Ponyo cheered. As soon as Lisa sat on Sosuke's bed, Ponyo leapt beside her and the two kids gathered around to hear the story. So Lisa began to think of what tale she could tell her children. She finally picked one.

"Have you heard the story of The Little Peachling?"

"No mom," Sosuke said. "I haven't."

"What's a peachling?" asked Ponyo.

"Well, let me tell you," answered Lisa.

With that, Lisa told the children the story of Momotaro, a fairy tale about a little boy who was born in a peach and raised by an elderly husband and wife. She went on to tell about how he grew up and went on a search for a treasure guarded by goblins, monsters, trolls and such. She concluded with his victory over the goblins and how he used the treasure to care of his parents as long as they lived.

"That was a beautiful story mom," Ponyo said in a tired voice. She yawned and started to nod off. "I loved it."

"Me too," Sosuke said.

And with that, Lisa gave Ponyo and Sosuke a hug and a kiss, tucked them in and said goodnight. Then she turned out the light and closed the door.

"Good night Sosuke," Ponyo said. "I love you."

"Good night Ponyo," Sosuke responded. "I love you too, and I'm so happy you're my sister now."

Ponyo fell asleep with a peaceful smile on her face. Her very first day on land turned out to be a good day after all.

* * *

So Sosuke…how was that?

"That was wonderful! Ponyo will really like that."

I'm sure she will.

"So…are you going to tell about what was in that picture?"

That will have to wait until next time.

"Okay. Well, thanks for the story and the water. I'll see you later. Hopefully Ponyo can come next time!"

I hope so too. Bye!

"Bye!"

It looks like things might be turning around. Now Ponyo's going to try and make amends. Will she be successful? What did she draw? Find out next time. Until then, goodbye and God bless.


	7. Ponyo Tries to Make Amends

**Chapter 7 in which Ponyo tries to Make Amends**

"Hey! Mr. Narrator!"

"Hey!"

Huh? Oh! Hi Ponyo! Hi Sosuke!

"Hi!"

Oh, it's good to see you two again. And how are you two doing?

"Great!"

"Much better. I had a cold and had to stay in bed all week. But now I feel fine."

"So what are you doing today?"

Oh, I was just out for a run. The park is a nice place to run, isn't it?

"Yeah."

So what's your mom up to? I see her on her cell phone.

"Mommy is talking with daddy on the phone."

"He's at sea right now, but he should be visiting for a week."

That sounds fun.

"Mm-hmm."

…

So…how about a story?

"I wanted to ask you about that, but I didn't want to stop your running."

No, no, Ponyo. That's very considerate of you but don't worry about asking me for a story. If I can't tell you one, I'll let you know.

"Okay."

Okay kids; let's take a seat. Whew! Jogging takes it out of you.

"I think it's fun!"

"Ponyo loves to run."

Yeah, running's fun...and tiring. Well…back to where we left off.

* * *

The next morning, it was Sosuke who woke up first. Ponyo was too busy dreaming about peachlings and drawings and other wonderful things a kid her age might dream up. Sosuke saw her sleeping so peacefully that he didn't want to wake her up. But they were gonna be late so he had to. He slipped out of bed and shook her gently on the shoulder.

"Hey. Hey Ponyo, wake up. It's time to get up."

Ponyo stirred and groaned.

"Mmph," she grunted sleepily. "Not now Sosuke."

"Sorry Ponyo, but we're gonna be late if we don't hurry."

"Can't we go to school tomorrow?" Ponyo mumbled.

"I thought you were gonna apologize today," Sosuke remarked in a matter-of-fact voice.

Well that comment woke her up more. She shot upright on the futon.

"That's right! I have to say sorry today!" she exclaimed. "Come on Sosuke! We're gonna be late!"

Without another word, she grabbed Sosuke's arm and hauled him out the room, down the hall and downstairs to get breakfast.

"We're not in that much of a hurry," Sosuke said as he was being nearly drug down the hall.

But Ponyo didn't notice his comment. In her mind, there wasn't a moment to lose.

After a quick breakfast and getting dressed in their day-clothes, Lisa drove Ponyo and Sosuke to school. This time, she took the mountain road. This road wasn't nearly as winding as the other one. It weaved through the thick and lush forests carpeting the peninsula. The ocean was nowhere to be seen. All that could be seen were trees and sky. Ponyo had never been in a forest before and was admiring the view. She rolled down her window and smelled the rich, green smell of the forests. Then she rested her arms on the window of the car, rested her chin on her folded arms and looked upward. The trees towered overhead only allowing fragments of sky to be seen through the canopy. Occasionally, the trees would open up and the great blue canvas of sky would be seen for a while longer before the trees dominated the view once again.

Ponyo then turned her gaze to the forests at eye level. She nearly lost herself in the ever-retreating depths of the woods. The scene was a series of shifting shadows and dancing lights streaming from the canopy. It was almost magical. Then she began to wonder: what secrets were lurking in the depths of the forests? What undiscovered sights and manner of creatures were waiting for her? Then, just for the fun of it, she began to imagine. She fancied seeing curious creatures in the shadows and lights. She could have done this forever when suddenly WHOOSH! Everything was immersed in a deep blackness and the peaceful sounds of the forest were replaced by a loud and continuous noise. For at that moment, Lisa drove the car into a tunnel that would take them out of the mountains and back to the coast.

"Eek!" Ponyo exclaimed.

"Ponyo?" Sosuke asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ponyo responded. "I was imagining what the forest was hiding."

Sosuke and Lisa smiled.

"I sometimes wonder what lies in those woods too," Lisa remarked.

"Have you ever gone in there?" Ponyo asked.

"No I haven't," Lisa said in a regretful tone. "I've always wanted to, but I've just been too busy."

"I've never been there either," Sosuke said.

Ponyo's eyes widened. Something that even Lisa and Sosuke didn't know about would be a really big discovery!

"Can we go walking in the woods someday?" Ponyo asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" Sosuke said in an equally excited tone. He too was curious to see what was in there. "Can we?"

Lisa laughed.

"I'll tell you what, I promise that if I have the time, we'll all go walking in the woods and have an adventure. Okay?"  
"Yay!" cheered Ponyo and Sosuke. An adventure was an opportunity that was not to be passed up.

So they eventually reached the senior center and nursery. Lisa left for her workplace and the kids left for theirs. As they approached the nursery, Ponyo fingered something in her pocket.

"What did you get Kumiko?" asked Sosuke.

"This," Ponyo said. She showed Sosuke what she had in her pocket: a seashell. It was a lovely shell with curious patterns and a pretty peach color to it.

"It's pretty," Sosuke remarked.

"Yeah. I think so too," Ponyo said proudly. "I hope she likes it."

"Yeah. But even if she doesn't, you're doing the right thing and that's what's really important."

"Okay."

Ponyo and Sosuke entered the building and slipped their shoes off. Then they entered the main room and saw the children playing. Ponyo fidgeted with the shell in her hand as she looked around the room for Kumiko. Then she heard a voice behind her.

"Hi Ponyo."

Ponyo looked and Sensei was right behind her.

"Oh. Hi Sensei."

"How are you doing today?"

"Much better, thank you."

"What are you holding?"

"Oh. This is a seashell. It's for Kumiko."

"I'm afraid you're not allowed to take things to school unless I say you can."

Ponyo was visibly worried.

"But this is my chance to show Kumiko how sorry I am. Can I please give this to her? Just this once?"

Sensei thought it over and decided to let Ponyo have her way.

"Okay. But only this once."

"Yes Sensei. Thank you."

So Ponyo spent a lot of time playing with her new friends and Sosuke. She built cities with building blocks, played with marble tracks and, of course, drew pictures. Finally, Kumiko showed up. Ponyo saw her, and her eagerness to apologize was replaced with fear. What if she didn't forgive her? What if she didn't talk to her? What if…?

"Ponyo," whispered Sosuke. Ponyo jumped a little at his voice as she was snapped out of her train of thought. "Now's your chance."

"Um…" Ponyo said hesitantly. "Sure." She gulped nervously and slowly approached Kumiko. Then Kumiko turned and saw Ponyo approach. Ponyo froze in her tracks at Kumiko's annoyed look, but then approached some more.

"Hi Kumiko," Ponyo said meekly.

"What do you want?" demanded Kumiko. "I don't want to talk to you. Just leave me alone." With that, she turned away and focused on a picture book before her. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around and saw Ponyo right there. "I said leave me alone," she insisted.

But Ponyo wasn't done.

"Here," Ponyo said. "This is for you." She then placed the seashell in Kumiko's hands. Kumiko looked at the shell with a confused face and then looked at Ponyo. "I'm sorry I looked at you funny and squirted you in the face and on your dress. I'm really sorry" Ponyo said repentantly. "I was wrong to do that. I shouldn't have done that and I wish I never did it. I don't want to be mad at you anymore. Can we be friends?"

Unfortunately Kumiko was not feeling co-operative at that moment. Her look of confusion was soon replaced by a look of indignation.

"Humph!" she snorted. "I don't want to be your friend! I don't forgive you Ponyo! Now go away before I call Sensei and you get in big trouble!"

Then Kumiko abruptly shoved the seashell back into Ponyo's hands and slumped back in her seat. Ponyo stood there dumbfounded. She may have expected Kumiko not to forgive her, but she never thought Kumiko would react so meanly. Ponyo backed away as tears filled her eyes. Finally, without even putting on her shoes, she ran right by Sosuke and out the back door, sobbing all the while. Sosuke wanted to say something angry to Kumiko but decided not to and ran after Ponyo. But he wasn't fast enough and as soon as he stepped foot outside the building Ponyo was nowhere to be seen.

"Ponyo?" he called. "Ponyo where are you?"

She was nowhere to be seen. Sosuke searched every inch of the outdoor play area, but there was no sign of the little girl. Then he searched inside the building and outside again but she was nowhere. As you can imagine, Sosuke was starting to worry. He then ran to Karen, who was playing in the sandbox.

"Hey Karen! Have you seen Ponyo?"

"Ponyo? No I haven't. Is she missing?"

"I think so."

"Maybe we should organize a search and rescue," Karen offered. But Sosuke shook his head.

"No, no. I'm going to look around more first. I'll say when we should do a search and rescue."

"Okay," Karen said. With that, Sosuke ran back to the classroom.

Kumiko saw him looking for Ponyo and chipped in her two cents worth of advice.

"Maybe your stupid goldfish ran home to the sea, where she belongs."

"She's not a goldfish!" barked Sosuke, losing his temper. "She's my sister and I have to find her! I promised I'd love her and take care of her!"

"Well, you can look for her without me," retorted Kumiko. "I hope she never comes back!"

Sosuke looked at her angrily. But there were more important things at stake. Instead of arguing with Kumiko more, he darted off to continue his search.

He looked and looked and finally concluded that Ponyo wasn't on the nursery property. But where could she be? He then had a horrible thought. What if Kumiko was right? What if Ponyo went to the sea after all? Maybe she tried to visit her real parents. But she couldn't! She was a human and would drown! He climbed onto the wall separating the school from the ocean and looked down at the sea 30 feet below. He looked but Ponyo was nowhere to be seen.

"Ponyo!" he called.

He knew he had to find her no matter what! If she went down to the sea then he would go there too! He knew that the only way down to the shore was down a flight of concrete steps just on the other side of the senior center. With that, Sosuke ran through the opening in the bamboo fence, off the nursery property and toward the back of the old folks day center. He ran for the steps expecting the worst.

But just as he was passing the back door of the senior center, he heard Yoshie's voice.

"Sosuke? What are you doing?"

He glanced toward her to say, "Not now, I'm busy." But instead of speaking, he did a double take and skidded to a halt. There, curled in Yoshie's lap, was Ponyo. There she was, sobbing and shivering in the comforting, motherly arms of the elder. Sosuke breathed an exasperated sigh of relief and then marched up to Ponyo. He was mad at her for scaring him like that, but he felt too sorry for her to say anything.

"Ponyo?" he asked.

She looked at him with teary eyes. Then she hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry," Ponyo said. "Was I bad?"

"It's okay Ponyo," Sosuke consoled. "Just don't do that again."

"Okay. I needed a grown-up to hug me, so I went to see mommy. Yoshie was here and hugged me instead. She's like a grandma."

"Are you okay?" Sosuke asked.

"No," Ponyo said in a sad voice. "I really tried. I'm really sorry and I hoped it would work." With that, Ponyo started to cry again. Yoshie then embraced her again and caressed her hair.

"Oh Ponyo," Yoshie said in a comforting voice. "People don't always forgive others when they are supposed to. It's wrong but that's the way some people are. But you did the right thing, and was very good of you."

Ponyo sniffed. She was a little comforted by Yoshie's remark.

"What do I do now?"

"Just continue to be good," Yoshie advised. "Don't apologize anymore. Once is enough. Now you just move on and continue to do good to her. If you think she needs to be left alone, then leave her alone. But if she needs help, don't be afraid to help her."

"Okay Yoshie." She then sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I guess I better get back to school."

"You probably should," advised Yoshie.

"Yes she probably should!" said a familiar and annoyed voice. Sure enough, it was Toki, back in her wheelchair and not happy about seeing Ponyo there. "When I was young, I never played hooky when I was in school."

"Oh Toki," scolded Yoshie, "the nursery isn't the same thing. She is allowed to leave as long as she comes here."

Ponyo looked at Toki…she knew what she had to do. Now, however, she was more fearful than before. If Kumiko could hurt her so much, how much more could grown-up Toki do? At last, she plucked up some courage and walked to the elder.

"Toki?" asked Ponyo timidly.

"What is it?" asked Toki sharply. "I still think you should be in school now. But I'm here and you're here so…what?"

Ponyo stopped to let her thoughts gather and then she spoke.

"I'm very sorry for yelling at you like that yesterday. I really didn't mean it. I'm also sorry for squirting you in the face when I was a fish. I was a bad girl and I don't want to be bad anymore."

Toki's expression didn't change but something in her eyes seemed to indicate she was touched. Ponyo then reached into her pocket and gave Toki a folded piece of paper.

"Here," Ponyo said, unfolding and handing the paper to Toki. "I drew this for you."

Toki looked at the drawing. It was a drawing of two people holding hands and walking on the beach. The smaller red figure was obviously Ponyo. The larger blue figure was Toki. To their left was the dark-blue ocean and to their right was a green mountain range. Up in the light-blue sky was a golden sun with yellow lines shooting out of it as a depiction of sunlight.

"I want to be friends with you," Ponyo explained. "Can we be friends? Please?"

Toki examined the drawing while Ponyo waited patiently for a response. Finally, Toki spoke.

"You like to draw?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm. I love to draw," Ponyo replied.

Toki looked over the drawing once more and nodded. "It's good," she said. "Very good for a person your age."

"Thank you," Ponyo said in a very meek voice.

Toki finally rolled her eyes.

"Oh don't just stand there!" she said in an amused yet irritated voice. "Come here and give me a hug or something."

Ponyo gasped a hopeful gasp, rushed over and the two embraced.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice.

"Oh Ponyo," said Toki in a gruffly sympathetic voice. "It's okay. It's all okay."

Ponyo then looked at Toki with a hopeful expression and tears in her eyes.

"You forgive me?"

Toki smiled. "Yes Ponyo," she said. "I forgive you."

Ponyo's hopeful face was washed away by a joyful face and they embraced some more.

"Thank you Toki-san," she said.

"You're a good girl," Toki chuckled.

At that moment, Lisa came to check on them and saw her daughter and Toki caught up in a loving hug. She smiled proudly as a smiling Sosuke watched them. Toki then put Ponyo on her lap.

"I wish Kumiko forgave me like you did," Ponyo said.

"Well, if she doesn't forgive you, that's her problem. You did what you had to; the rest is up to her. But don't dare be mean to her or try and get back at her."

"I won't," promised Ponyo.

"Instead, do what Yoshie said. Treat her well and leave her alone; whichever one is best for that moment." Ponyo nodded in agreement. "Now run along back to school now. You're probably worrying the others."

"Okay," Ponyo said.

With that, she slipped off Toki's lap, bowed to the elders, wished them a good afternoon and left for school with Sosuke in tow. Lisa watched them go with a proud smile on her face. She knew Ponyo would find the courage to do the right thing. Then she checked on her two friends and went back to work.

* * *

So…how did you like that?

"That was wonderful Mr. Narrator."

"Yeah, much better than when Ponyo was naughty."

"I didn't like that story because I was bad and I don't want to be bad."

Right, Ponyo.

"So, are you done for now?"

Yep. I'm just gonna relax for a minute before I go for a run.

"Can we relax with you?"

Sure Ponyo.

"Great!"

So what are you doing Ponyo?

"Cloud watching. I just love cloud watching. Don't you?"

Yeah.

"I like to look for shapes in the clouds. Sometimes I even imagine them talking to each other and playing together."

That's interesting. I've never thought of that. You have quite an imagination.

"Thanks."

(A few minutes later of cloud watching and silence.)

Well, it's time for me to go.

"Okay."

"Thanks for letting us stay here and telling us a story."

Oh no problem Sosuke. Any time.

"Good! Well, see you later."

Okay kids! Bye!

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

Well, the bad news is that Kumiko didn't forgive Ponyo. But the good news is that Toki did forgive Ponyo and Ponyo is really trying to be a good girl now. So what will happen next? Find out next time. Until then, goodbye and God bless!


	8. Sosuke has a Plan

**Chapter 8 in which Sosuke makes a Plan**

Dear Ponyo and Sosuke,

How's everybody doing? I'm sorry to say this, but as I explained to your mom on the phone I'm really busy with work and school, so I can't have you visit today. Maybe you'll be able to visit next time. But I promised you more of the story, so here it is in this letter. I know that Ponyo prefers to open and read letters so that's why I sent this chapter over written on paper instead of e-mail. So here it is…enjoy. ;)

* * *

And so it was that Ponyo and Sosuke went back to school after visiting the elders. As they walked back, Sosuke talked to Ponyo.

"Okay Ponyo, don't run away like that again, okay?"

"Okay Sosuke," Ponyo said.

"If you do, it will make everyone nervous and Sensei might call the police to look for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sosuke affirmed, "and you don't want to call them if you don't have to. You're only supposed to call them for emergencies."

"Okay. I'm sorry for scaring you."

"That's okay Ponyo," Sosuke replied understandingly.

"I won't run away again," Ponyo promised.

They ducked through the bamboo gate and entered the schoolyard. The first person they met was Karen.

"Ponyo!" she exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Hi Karen," Ponyo said cheerily. The two embraced.

"You scared me," Karen scolded.

"I'm sorry Karen," Ponyo said penitently. "I won't do it again."

"Good," Karen replied. "Good thing Sensei didn't know you were missing."

"Sensei knows that I visit the senior center," Sosuke remarked, "so she probably thought Ponyo was there too."

"And I was," Ponyo said.

"Well Ponyo and Sosuke," Karen offered, "do you want to play on the playground?"

"Sure!" Ponyo chirped. Sosuke agreed too and they all went to play.

That afternoon, the children all played on the playground. They showed Ponyo how to play tag and hide-and-go-seek. Ponyo loved the games where she had to run, and boy was she good at it! She could run faster than most of the other children and was almost never caught. There was only one time when someone tagged her by surprise. After another round where she avoided capture yet again, she stopped for a moment.

"Um…should I keep playing?" she asked.

"Why?" asked Sosuke.

"It's not really fair," Ponyo replied. "No one catches me and I don't want to make things not fun."

"Don't worry about it," said a boy with a striped T-shirt. "You're doing fine. Just play the way you always play."

"Yeah," Sosuke concurred. "Mom says to do your best, so keep it up."

"Okay," Ponyo said with a smile. She liked being encouraged by her friends

"Besides," Karen offered, "we can always surprise you."

Ponyo laughed and the games continued. The children played almost everything. They played tag, duck-duck-goose, hide-and-go-seek, and catch. They were about to show Ponyo how to play hopscotch when a loud ringing was heard.

"What's that?" Ponyo asked.

"That's Sensei ringing the bell," Naoki announced. "That means it's time to go inside."

So without further ado, all the children ran inside.

Once inside, Sensei addressed the class.

"Okay class," she announced, "we will be learning about the ocean today." This comment caught Ponyo's attention. "Now kids…who can point out where the ocean is?"

All the children pointed out the east window where the ocean could be seen.

"Very good," Sensei said. Then she took out a map of the world and put it up on the chalkboard. "Now as you can see, the ocean covers most of our world. There is more ocean than land. See?" The children all nodded. "Now…who can tell me the names of the oceans?"

"I can! I can!" Ponyo shouted excitedly. The other children giggled as Sosuke tugged on her dress in an attempt to keep her quiet. Sensei just chuckled.

"Okay Ponyo. What are the oceans' names?"

Ponyo then got up and walked to the map. She then tried to point to an area on the map.

"Well…that is the…um…Sensei, can I borrow that stick? I can't reach." Sensei smiled and handed her the stick to use as a pointer. "Thank you. Okay…this is the Pacific, that is the Atlantic, that is the Indian Ocean, that's the Arctic Ocean and that's the Antarctic Ocean. The largest is the Pacific Ocean and the second largest is the Atlantic. The smallest is the Arctic Ocean."

"Thank you Ponyo," Sensei said. Ponyo bowed with a smile, gave the pointer back to Sensei and returned to her seat. Suddenly, she heard some kids snickering behind her. She didn't know why they were laughing, but she felt as though they were laughing at her (which they were). This made her feel uncomfortable and out-of-place and her smile vanished.

Sensei then went on to talk about various kinds of fish and sea life. She talked about the Great Barrier Reef and the Marianas Trench and other famous places in the ocean. Sosuke listened with rapt attention. Then he looked at Ponyo. He expected her to be as enthusiastic as he was, but she was too busy drawing. He leaned over to tell her that she needed to pay attention…until he saw what she was drawing. Her picture was of a submarine with red flippers and a glass dome. The submarine was swimming underwater with a bunch of red fishes. Inside the submarine was a man with wild red hair. Sosuke knew what she was drawing, nodded in understanding and let her draw. Finally she stopped and listened to Sensei's teaching with a forlorn and serious look on her face. Sosuke looked concerned…he knew what was going on.

"Are you homesick?" Sosuke asked Ponyo after school was let out. They were in the hallway getting their shoes on. Well, Sosuke was getting his shoes on. Ponyo was too distracted; she just stood there holding her shoes.

"Hmm?" asked Ponyo.

"Are you homesick?" repeated Sosuke.

Ponyo thought for a while.

"Can we go for a walk?" she asked.

"Okay," Sosuke said. She held Sosuke's hand and they walked out the door, through the gate and they eventually made it across the back of the senior center, down to the rocks and to the shore. Finally, at the water's edge, Ponyo spoke.

"I miss my sisters and the ocean," she said sadly. "I even miss my father. I feel like I don't belong here. Did you hear everybody laughing at me when I said the names of the oceans?"

Sosuke shook his head.

"Something is wrong," she said sadly. "I want to stay with you because I love you and mommy and my friends. But I really miss my home…and I almost…almost…"

"You almost want to go back home," Sosuke finished. Ponyo didn't respond. She was too sad and ashamed to say yes. But Sosuke placed his arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. She hugged him back with one arm.

"It's okay Ponyo," Sosuke said comfortingly. "I'm sure I know how you feel."

They watched the water for a long while. Sosuke was deep in thought. Then he had an idea.

"I got it!" he said. "Maybe we can get your father to visit so you can see him again."

"But how?" asked Ponyo.

"I got an idea!" Sosuke said proudly.

But before he could tell Ponyo his idea, they heard their mother's voice calling them.

"Sosuke! Ponyo! It's time to go home!"

"Coming mom!" they called back. The two children ran up the steps leading to the senior center and ran to their mother. Then the three walked to the car and climbed inside. On the way home, Lisa asked them about their day.

"So how was school, kids?" she asked.

"It was okay, but Ponyo is homesick," remarked Sosuke.

"Are you?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah," Ponyo sighed.

"But I have an idea," Sosuke said with pride. And so it was that while they drove home, Sosuke explained his idea. Lisa thought it was a good idea and gave them permission to carry it out.

Back at home, the children ran inside and got to work on Sosuke's plan. Sosuke went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of orange soda. After drinking some of it, he dumped the rest down the sink. After that, he took the label off and washed the bottle inside and out. Then he ran upstairs to his room and found Ponyo drawing a note on a sheet of paper using a marker.

"What are you drawing?" Sosuke asked.

"It's a picture of me sad and running to him to give him a hug," she explained. "That means that I miss him."

"Maybe," Sosuke said a little nervously. "But what if he thinks you want to go away forever?"

Ponyo looked at the picture.

"Hmm," she thought. "Maybe you're right. But I don't know how to write yet."

"Mom can write it for you," Sosuke said.

"Okay," Ponyo agreed. "So, this is what people did when they wanted to send messages without telephones and stuff like that?"

"Mm-hmm," Sosuke concurred. "I hope your father doesn't mind us sending him a bottle. Do you think he'll think we're littering?"

"Maybe," Ponyo said, "but I'm sure he'll understand."

"Good. Now go and have mom write a note while I finish this."

"Okay."

With that, Ponyo ran downstairs while Sosuke proceeded to make a small raft.

Outside, the sun was near the horizon where the sky and sea met. The clouds were painted red, gold and dark blue and the skies almost looked like they caught fire. The ocean was calm when Ponyo and Sosuke reached the small beach below their house. Sosuke had the clear bottle and Ponyo had two pieces of paper. The children looked out at the ocean.

"So what does the note say?" Sosuke asked.

"It says," Ponyo began, "'Dear Father, I really miss you and want to visit. Can you please come soon? Love, Ponyo.'"

"That's nice Ponyo."

"Thanks. I'll also give him my picture so that he knows its me."

"I hope this works."

"I'm sure it will. Mother will make sure he gets it; I'm sure of it."

"Okay."

Then Ponyo stuck the note and drawing into the bottle. She made sure the picture of her was showing outside so that Fujimoto would know that the bottle was from her. Sosuke put a cork in the top as tightly as he could.

"Can I throw it?" Ponyo asked.

"Sure," Sosuke said.

He handed her the bottle and she took it. Then she kissed it and threw it as hard as she could. It soared for about ten feet and landed in the water with a splash. Ponyo and Sosuke stood there and watched it float away in the sunset-lit waters. Ponyo was smiling now.

"We did it," she said.

"Yep," Sosuke said. "Now all we can do is wait until your father comes."

"Okay," Ponyo said. Then she smiled lovingly at Sosuke. "Thank you Sosuke."

"You're welcome," Sosuke said with a smile.

Then the two children held hands and walked up the path back to the house.

Later that evening, Lisa rocked Ponyo on her knee and listened to Ponyo's story of what she did that day. Sosuke sat next to her and listened intently. Ponyo eventually finished and Lisa smiled.

"Ponyo," she began, "I'm very proud of you for doing the right thing and apologizing. That was a very good thing to do."

Hearing those words warmed Ponyo's heart.

"Thanks mama," she said humbly.

"Now remember," Lisa advised, "when you do a good thing, don't boast about it."

"Boast? What does boast mean?"

"It means to speak proudly and be a show-off. That kind of behavior is wrong and it hurts other people. It will also hurt you in the end. If you become proud, you don't listen to other people and when you make mistakes, you will keep making those mistakes and get worse."

A look of fear and amazement came over Ponyo's face.

"So what do I do?" she asked.

"Stay humble and be willing to listen to what other people have to say," Lisa replied. "And remember to treat others like how you would want to be treated. If you don't want to be treated badly, then don't treat other people badly."

"That's a good idea," Ponyo said.

"Yes it is," Lisa said. Then they both fell silent for a while until Ponyo asked a simple question.

"Mom? Do you think my father will find my messages?"

Lisa was quiet for a while. There was always a possibility that he wouldn't. After all, the ocean was (and still is) a big place and Fujimoto couldn't be everywhere. But she knew that telling Ponyo that would do more harm than good.

"I think so," Lisa decided. "Since your mother is the goddess of the sea, it would make sense if she let him see it."

"True," Ponyo said with an uncertain voice.

Then, after another silent moment, Lisa asked a question.

"So, do you miss your father?"

Right now, Ponyo wasn't really feeling as homesick as before, but the feeling still lingered in the back of her mind.

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo said. "I feel bad. I'm now a human like I wanted, but sometimes I wish I was with my father in the sea. Is that bad of me? I don't want to make Sosuke upset or sad or anybody sad."

"No Ponyo," Sosuke said, trying to comfort Ponyo. Now, to be honest, he was terribly afraid of losing Ponyo and afraid she might want to go back to the ocean. But he did his best to put his fears aside and be there for Ponyo when she needed him. He understood the feeling of homesickness and wasn't upset at Ponyo for it.

"No," Lisa said consolingly. "That's not bad of you to feel homesick. It's normal. Children who are adopted oftentimes miss their old parents. What you're feeling is completely normal."

"But I want to stay with you and my new family," Ponyo said, desperately trying to make sense of her conflicting emotions. "I love you. I love my new family."

"And we all love you too Ponyo," Sosuke assured her.

"Don't worry," Lisa said. "Everything will be all right."

"Okay mom," Ponyo said in a small and scared yet trusting voice. She decided to trust her new family and take her new mother's advice. Lisa then hugged Ponyo tight and Ponyo hugged her back.

"I love you so much," Lisa said.

Sosuke then jumped in and they all comforted Ponyo. Slowly but surely, the fears that held Ponyo began to melt away. She finally felt more at peace. The homesickness still lingered, but it was very small compared to what she felt that moment: a love and care she had never felt before in her life. She didn't know what the future had in store, but she felt she was ready to take on whatever came her way with Lisa and Sosuke at her side. She was one of them now.

* * *

So that's chapter 8 of your story. I hope you liked it, and hopefully Ponyo didn't get too sad when she read the part where she got homesick. So what happened the next day? Well, that will have to wait until next week, if I'm not too busy. If I don't see you all by then, I'll send you another letter. Anyway, have a wonderful day and God bless!

Your friend,

Mr. Narrator

(Imaginarius '84)


	9. Ponyo shows She is Good and Plays a Game

**Chapter 9 in which Ponyo shows she is a Good Girl and where she Plays a Game**

(Knock, knock.)

"Coming!"

"Hi Mr. Narrator!"

"Hey Ponyo! Hi Sosuke! Long time no see. How's everything?"

"Things are fantastic!"

"Ponyo memorized all the main islands of Japan."

"Really? What are they?"

"Ahem…they are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and…and…wait I know this! It's…mmmmmmmmmmm…Shikoku! That's it!"

"Great job! You're a smart girl."

"Thank you. Here. I drew the islands without tracing! It's for you."

"Oh thanks Ponyo. It's really nice."

"Mm-hmm."

"So kids, are you ready for another story?"

"Yes please Mr. Narrator."

"Well have a seat and I'll begin. Did you read my letter?"

"Yep. I read the story to Ponyo. She felt a little sad at that story."

"Oh, I'm sorry Ponyo."

"That's okay."

"Well this one will be happier, I promise."

"Good!"

* * *

The next day was a brighter day for Ponyo. She woke up from a very lovely dream of life with her new family, and her homesickness was now a shadow of a memory. It was still there, but it was almost insignificant now. The love showered upon her was more than enough to cure her of her homesickness. She still desired to see her home again, but now she was content with her new life on land. Now she knew what she could do to be a good girl. She knew that she could love others and be loved as well.

So after a nice breakfast, the family piled into the car and drove down the coast road. This time, Ponyo looked out the window most of the time so she didn't get sick. She just spent a lot of time watching the clouds and talking with her family.

"So mom," she asked in a chipper voice, "if I see that somebody needs something, do I get it for them?"

"If you want to, sure," Lisa replied. "But you don't have to get things for people all the time."

"If they ask for it, then you can get it for them," Sosuke advised.

"Oh and remember," Lisa continued, "if you do good for other people, do not do it so you can be liked or thanked. Do it because it is the right thing to do and because you want to."

"Okay," Ponyo said. "What about sharing? Everybody at school says it's good to share."

"Yeah, sharing is very important," Sosuke remarked.

"Good," Ponyo quipped. "I'll make sure to share when I get to school!"

"That's my girl," Lisa said encouragingly. Ponyo then gazed outside and fell silent.

"What'cha doing Ponyo?" asked Sosuke.

"I'm looking at the clouds," she replied. "They are very pretty and so high in the air."

"I like to look for animals and dragons in the clouds," Sosuke said.

Ponyo's eyes widened as she spun to face Sosuke.

"There are animals and dragons in the sky?" she asked excitedly.

Lisa and Sosuke responded with a laugh.

"No, no Ponyo," Sosuke laughed. "I like to see if I can find their shapes in the clouds."

"Oh," Ponyo said with a little disappointment in her voice.

Sosuke looked out her window and saw a cloud that almost looked like a hippopotamus.

"There," he pointed. Ponyo looked out her window to see what Sosuke was pointing at. "Do you see the cloud that look like a hippopotamus?"

Ponyo looked around and finally saw it.

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. "It does look like a hippopotamus! That's clever Sosuke!"

"Thanks. Now you try and find one!"

Ponyo looked around and the two pointed out various cloud shapes until they finally reached the nursery.

The two children raced across the quiet parking lot and through the bamboo fence to the nursery. Ponyo ducked through the hole in the fence first.

"Wow! You're fast," Sosuke panted.

"Thanks," Ponyo said.

They entered the building, slipped their shoes off and entered the main room. Sensei walked up to them.

"Good morning children," she greeted.

"Good morning Sensei," the children replied.

"How are you doing?"

"We're doing fine," Ponyo replied. "How are you?"

"I'm doing very well," Sensei said.

"Good," Ponyo said.

"Feeling better Ponyo?" Sensei asked. "You didn't look so well when I was talking about the ocean."

"Oh, I was feeling homesick."

"Oh, I'm sorry Ponyo," Sensei consoled. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Much better," Ponyo said in a cheerful voice.

"That's good. Remember, if you need to talk with someone, don't be afraid to come to me."

"Yes, Sensei."

"Good. Now go on and play."

"Okay," the two children said. Then they ran off for the classroom.

"And have fun!" Sensei called.

"We will!" they called back.

After they entered the main room, Ponyo got to work on her favorite activity (which, if you forgot, was drawing). She drew for about five minutes when something caught her eyes. Over to her left was a four-year-old girl with a ponytail trying to carry a stack of books. The girl was trying to put the books back on the shelf where they belonged, but it was obvious that she couldn't do it alone. Ponyo watched her for a moment. Then the girl fell over and dropped the whole stack.

"Ow!" the girl yelped.

There wasn't a moment to lose. Ponyo ran over to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The girl shook her head dolefully.

"I'm trying to get these books back where they go," she grumbled. "Sensei says to put things back where they go but I can't carry them all."

"Do you want some help?" Ponyo offered.

"Okay," the girl said.

So the two girls worked together and put the books away. After putting the last book on the shelf, the four-year-old turned to Ponyo with a smile.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," Ponyo replied.

The little girl scratched her head and turned to Ponyo again.

"What's your name again?" she inquired.

"My name is Ponyo."

"Hi Ponyo," said the girl. "My name is Minako."

"Hi Minako," Ponyo greeted. "That's a pretty name."

"Thanks. I like your name too."

So the two chatted on until they finally said bye and went off to do whatever they were doing before. Ponyo smiled. Doing good for others made her feel wonderful inside. So she thought to herself, "why not do more?"

And so Ponyo spent much of her time playing and learning, but she also spent a considerable part of the day helping others, and boy did she enjoy it! It almost became a favorite activity. At one point, she saw Naoki drawing. He didn't have a lot of paper there with him, so Ponyo offered to get him some. Of course she got it for him and he was very grateful. Some time later while she was coloring, she saw a girl seated nearby asking other children for crayons. None of the children she asked wanted to share so Ponyo gave her some of her own crayons. Then she helped another kid take his rather tight boots off. As a matter of fact, they were on so tight that both children tumbled backward each time a boot came off. But Ponyo really didn't mind it. These were just three of a good number of good deeds she did that day.

At one point, she saw Kumiko trying to take a ball off a shelf. Unfortunately, it was far too tall for her to reach. Ponyo went and grabbed a small plastic stool.

"Kumiko," Ponyo said.

Kumiko frowned upon hearing Ponyo's voice.

"What do you want?" she asked. "I told you I'm not your friend."

"No, no," Ponyo said. "I just wanted to give you this." Ponyo showed her the stool. Kumiko looked at it for a moment. Then she looked at Ponyo, and then she looked at the stool again. Ponyo then set the footstool down on the ground.

"There," Ponyo said. "Now stand on it."

Kumiko stood on it and reached her ball. She stepped off the stool and looked at Ponyo in confusion for a moment. She didn't know whether she should say thank you or not, or why on earth Ponyo would help her after the way she treated her. Finally, she shook her head and walked away without a word. Ponyo didn't smile. She was hoping Kumiko would say 'thank you' or something like that. But then she remembered Lisa's advice on not looking for thanks from other people. So she decided to forget about it and went off to play with Sosuke.

Later that day, Ponyo and Sosuke were helping their friends build a castle out of blocks when the next they knew, they heard a loud ringing. They looked and saw Sensei ringing a bell.

"Come on Ponyo" Sosuke said. "That means Sensei wants us to come to her. She has something important to say."

"Okay," Ponyo said.

With that, all the children ran over to Sensei and gathered around.

"Okay kids. Quiet down please" Sensei said. After a while, the children ceased their excited chatter and Sensei continued. "We're going to play a game called Capture-the-Flag." Murmurs of excitement rippled through the crowd of children. "Who doesn't know how to play?" Sensei asked.

Ponyo raised and waved her hand excitedly. She didn't know how to play, but a new game was something she had to be a part of. Most of the other children knew how to play. Only Ponyo and six other children didn't know how to play.

So Sensei explained the rules. There were two teams and the playing field was the backyard of the school. Each team had a team captain and their own territory where they kept their flag. The goal of the game was to get the enemy flag over the boundary and to their own side of the yard. The one who got the other team's flag over first was the winner. However, if a member of Team 1 was tagged in Team 2's territory, the captured person was sent to jail where he or she was guarded. They could only be freed if another person from their team tagged them. So that was the basic rules. Oh, and a guard kept watch on the flag as well. With that, it was time to get started.

"So," Sensei announced, "who will be team captain?" Almost every hand shot up, but Sosuke's hand went up first. "Okay. Sosuke is the leader of Team 1."

"Yes!" Sosuke said triumphantly.

Then Naoki was chosen as the leader for Team 2. Then the teams were chosen by Sensei. Unfortunately, Ponyo found herself on Naoki's team.

"Sensei," she asked, "can I switch places with someone else?"

"But the teams are already chosen," Sensei remarked.

"Please?" begged Ponyo. "I really want to be with Sosuke."

So Sensei agreed and Ponyo traded places with another girl. Now there was a drawback to being on Sosuke's team: Kumiko was on the same team as well. She looked at Ponyo with a contemptuous look and walked away with a humph. Ponyo looked at her angrily and stuck out her tongue but Sosuke nudged her.

"Remember Ponyo," Sosuke reminded, "you promised to be good."

Ponyo sighed reluctantly. Being nice to Kumiko was hard but he was right.

"Okay Sosuke," she said in a begrudging voice. "I won't make faces at her anymore. That's how this whole thing got started."

"That's right Ponyo," Sosuke said encouragingly.

"Okay kids!" Sensei called. "Let's get started!"

With that, the game started. On Sosuke's team, a boy named Uchino was chosen as the flag-keeper and a girl named Aiko was the jailor.

Then they all gathered around the flag to make their plans.

"Okay," Sosuke said, "I think we should try and go at it in two ways." He then drew his plans on the ground. "Four of us will go here and run for the flag. Then four of us will run this way. When they try and catch one side, the other side will get the flag."

"I wanna run!" Ponyo said.

"Ponyo should stay here and guard the flag," Kumiko advised.

"But I wanna run," Ponyo replied.

"I'm faster than you!" Kumiko snorted.

Ponyo was about to say something in response, but she stopped. Since she wouldn't want someone to say something nasty to her, she shouldn't say nasty things to others. So she wisely kept her mouth shut.

"Ponyo is really fast," Karen argued.

"I want her to help me guard the flag," Aiko said.

Sosuke pondered for a while to find a solution and finally got an idea.

"Okay Ponyo…here." Sosuke picked up two sticks and hid them behind his back. "If you pick the long one, you get to run with us."

Ponyo then picked the right hand…the one holding the short stick.

"Aw," she whined.

"I'm sorry," Sosuke said.

"That's okay," Ponyo comforted. "Maybe next time?"

"Yeah," Sosuke said. "I'll let you run next time."

So Ponyo stayed behind with her seven other teammates while eight other children ran off to capture Team 2's flag.

Unfortunately, Naoki's team was a little faster than they thought. Sosuke's plan went completely awry and all his teammates with him were caught! Now Team 1 was outnumbered 2 to 1. Ponyo looked at the other team with dismay and ran back to her fellow teammates.

"Guys!" she said. "Our friends are in trouble! We have to do something!"

"We can't," Aiko said hopelessly. "Naoki is too good."

Ponyo thought for a while and then looked up.

"I got it!"

The team huddled together and whispered.

"It's pretty risky and dangerous," Karen remarked. "But it might work."

In the meantime, the captured children were being held behind a large palm tree. The boy in the striped T-shirt guarded them.

"This is miserable," Kumiko whined.

"This is all your fault!" complained a boy to another girl.

"Okay stop," said Sosuke. "We have to wait now."

"Okay," said a little girl with pigtails.

"Just you wait," Sosuke said confidently, "Ponyo will save us."

"Ponyo?" Kumiko snorted. "She's never played before. She can't help us. She's just a stupid little girl."

"No she's not!" Sosuke snapped defensibly. "And don't call people names. It's not good."

Now Naoki was guarding the flag when he saw four of Team 1's members circling around to capture his flag. Right then, eight of his teammates ganged up on them to catch them while the other eight stayed put. But those who stayed put were distracted by all the activity. Ponyo took this opportunity to sneak along the wall in the bushes toward the jail. She managed to avoid detection.

Then two of Ponyo's teammates rushed to capture Naoki's flag. Of course, Team 2 chased after them, but the intruders escaped in time. While all this was going on, Ponyo was sneaking little by little toward the jail. She crept closer and closer until she stopped to pick up a rock. She looked to make sure no one was looking and then threw it against the fence behind the jailer and to his left. He looked and Ponyo dashed behind the jail where she wouldn't be seen. As a matter of fact, she was so sneaky, the other children didn't see her either. She then reached forward and grabbed Sosuke's hand. Sosuke nearly jumped out of his skin and the others were equally surprised, but Ponyo put a finger to her lips.

"Shh! No one can see me," she whispered. "Pretend you're not looking at me."

So the kids acted like she wasn't there while Ponyo continued speaking.

"I'll free you all now but we'll pretend that we're caught. Then we'll run, but it has to be when I saw 'now.'"

"There's too many of us," Kumiko whispered. "We'll get caught."

"No we won't," Ponyo assured her. "Not if we move fast."

"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard," Kumiko retorted.

Ponyo looked hurt. After that comment, she wanted to make Kumiko stay in jail, but she knew better than that.

So Ponyo freed her friends (and Kumiko) and they all waited. After a while, nine of Naoki's teammates walked over to capture the flag. Then two of Ponyo's teammates who were still on the other side ran for the flag. Sure enough, some of the remaining Team 2 members chased them, but they ran for safety before they could get caught. And not only did they reach safety, but they distracted the opposing teammates, giving Sosuke's team the perfect chance!

"Now!" whispered Ponyo.

With that, everyone in the jail ran out and for the boundary as fast as they could. Of course, this confused Team 2.

"What?" Naoki wailed. "That's cheating! You can't do that!"

"Yes we can! I tricked you!" Ponyo shouted.

Naoki gaped at Ponyo in disbelief. How could he and his teammates have missed her? Team 2 realized they had been duped, but it was too late. Team 1 was free and they caught all of Team 2 that was in their territory. So Ponyo's plan worked.

With that, Sosuke decided to directly attack Naoki's flag. Aiko kept a very sharp eye on her prisoners and they were kept in a place where they couldn't be sneaked on. Team 2 did what they could, but Team 1 outnumbered them. The only person they could catch was Kumiko, who was promptly sent to jail. In a matter of minutes, Ponyo had the flag!

"Run for it Ponyo!" Sosuke yelled.

"Go Ponyo!" Karen cheered.

And Ponyo ran…but not for base. Instead, she ran to free Kumiko. Before the jailor could do anything, Ponyo tagged Kumiko.

"Come on," Ponyo urged.

With that, the two ran for the boundary. Unfortunately, Team 2 was closing in on them. Kumiko was farther away from the pursuers but Ponyo was close to getting caught.

"Here!" Ponyo yelled to Kumiko. With that, she passed the flag to Kumiko. Kumiko grabbed it and Ponyo was tagged out while Kumiko made it to safety. Team 1 won!

Everyone cheered Kumiko as she proudly waved the flag. Everyone on both teams congratulated each other and shook hands and even hugged. Ponyo slowly walked over to the throng of cheering children. She really wanted to be the one who carried the flag over, but she knew that the only way the team would win was if Kumiko carried it over. She was a little sad that she didn't win but happy that she helped her team win. They all paraded around Kumiko while Ponyo got less attention. Kumiko then looked at Ponyo. She had a curious look in her eye that one might have mistaken for gratitude. Then Kumiko, being too proud to admit Ponyo helped her, walked away with a confused and slightly proud expression because she didn't know what to think.

After that, Sosuke came up to her.

"Thanks Ponyo," he said. "You saved us really. We wouldn't have won without your help."

"You're welcome Sosuke," she replied.

"And I'm glad you rescued Kumiko," Sosuke continued. "That was really good what you did."

Ponyo smiled. She decided that being told she was a good girl was all the reward she needed. But Sosuke thought otherwise.

"Hey everybody!" he called. "Let's thank Ponyo for helping us win!"

With that, the children gathered around Ponyo and cheered, shook her hands and congratulated her. Karen and Aiko even gave her a hug. And to top it off, Sosuke lifted Ponyo onto his shoulders. Ponyo couldn't help laughing in excitement and gratitude. Then she looked over to Kumiko. Kumiko just stood there looking a little jealous. Ponyo smiled and waved for her to come over. Kumiko just shook her head and walked inside. Ponyo looked a little saddened at Kumiko's stubbornness but then she decided not to let it bother her. The whole school had accepted her as one of their own and she knew that all in all everything was going to be all right.

* * *

"So how about that?"

"That was wonderful!"

"I'm glad I helped Kumiko out."

"We all are."

"So what happens next?"

"Come back in three or four days and find out."

"Sounds fun. Well, we had better go now. Mommy's waiting."

"Okay Sosuke. Tell her I said hi."

"We will."

"Bye Mr. Narrator and thank you!"

"Bye you two and you're welcome!"

So it looks as if things are looking up for Ponyo. She's learning how to do better and she's won the respect of most of her classmates. What does the future have in store for Ponyo now? Tune in next time as she experiences an astonishing encounter where…well…I'll surprise you. Until then, goodbye and God bless!


	10. Ponyo and Sosuke go on an Expedition

**Chapter 10 in which Ponyo, Sosuke and Lisa go on an Expedition**

"Hi Ponyo."

"Hi Mr. Narrator!"

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"What brings you to the park?"

"Mom wanted me to run around and spend time outdoors."

"Where's Sosuke?"

"He had a really big day at school so he's really tired. He's at home taking a nap. What'cha doing, and what are you reading?"

"I'm listening to some classical music and reading a book about it."

"What's 'classical music?'"

"Classical music is a style of music that is...well...it's different from other stuff you listen to. People mainly play it just so you can listen to it. It's not dance music or anything like that."

"Okay."

"I'm listening to a Mahler symphony."

"A Mahler symphony?"

"Dear me, I'm not explaining myself very well. Okay...ahem...Gustav Mahler was a composer, a person who wrote music. He composed symphonies, pieces of music written for a large group of instruments."

"Like an orchestra?"

"Exactly."

"Sensei taught us all about instruments and music today. Can I hear?"

"Sure. Here you go. This is from his 5th Symphony."

...

"Mmm. I like it a lot."

"Yeah. I'd show you more, but it goes on for a while. So...did you want to hear a story?"

"Yes please."

"Sure. Let me set this down...and turn this off...and, there. So, where was I?"

"We just finished the capture-the-flag game."

"That's right. Well..."

* * *

After playing capture-the-flag, the students all went inside and studied some more. The main focus of the day was geography. Sensei taught them about the various places in their home country of Japan. That day, Ponyo learned about Mt. Fuji, what the nation capital was and what it meant, where North and South were and various other things. She even got to help the teacher at one point. That happened when Sensei pulled down a map to show the children what countries lay to the west of Japan. It was one of those pull-down maps where you pull a string and the map is pulled down so that you can see it.

"Now children," she began, "who can tell me what countries are to the west of…"

Sensei didn't finish her sentence. When she pulled on the rope, the map came down sure enough, but so did the roller attached to the map. Both fell to the floor with a crash as a startled and slightly embarrassed Sensei stumbled to catch them. The children all laughed at this little disaster while Sensei picked up the map and roller. After a couple of vain attempts at getting the pull-down map back onto the wall, she finally gave up and put them aside.

"Well um…now where were we?" Sensei said.

"You were asking us what places were west of Japan," said Nao.

"Oh yes," Sensei concurred. "Now, I don't have a map, but…"

With that, she picked up a marker and started to draw a rough sketch of Japan and the Asian mainland to the west. But Ponyo knew what Sensei needed. She got up, grabbed a large ball like a globe and ran over to the teacher. While Sensei continued drawing, Ponyo tugged on her pant leg. Sensei looked at Ponyo.

"Yes?" she inquired.

"Here," Ponyo said, shoving the ball toward Sensei's arms. "Use this. This is like the other map."

Sensei took the ball with a smile.

"Thank you Ponyo," she said. "This will do nicely."

Ponyo smiled and bowed, skipped over to Sosuke's side and plopped down on the floor as Sensei taught more geography using Ponyo's globe. After that, Sensei had the whole class draw pictures of Japan and the basic geography. Sosuke and Ponyo worked on the same picture. Sosuke drew the outline of Japan and the major cities while Ponyo drew the mountains and rivers.

School was let out early that afternoon. All the children took their pictures and prepared to go home. Kumiko picked up hers and rushed past Ponyo and Sosuke to the door.

"Goodbye Sosuke!" she called cheerily.

"Bye Kumiko!" Sosuke returned.

"Bye!" Ponyo said.

Kumiko just looked at Ponyo and kept going. It wasn't a particularly friendly look at that…but it wasn't a nasty, _un_-friendly look either. She just looked and left in a rush. Unfortunately, she was so much in a rush, she forgot to watch where she was going and collided into Naoki. The two fell to the ground, scattering papers everywhere. Ponyo and Sosuke gasped and couldn't help but giggle a little. After all, no one was seriously hurt.

Kumiko and Naoki apologized to each other, picked up their papers and left. Kumiko almost left the hallway when she heard Ponyo's voice.

"Wait Kumiko! You forgot this!"

She looked and sure enough she forgot one of her pictures. Ponyo was running toward her with the picture in hand. She gave the picture back to Kumiko, who then took it from Ponyo's hand. She looked at her picture and then Ponyo. She couldn't bring herself to say "thank you" to her rival. But at the same time, she couldn't help but be a little grateful that Ponyo was considerate enough to give her picture back. So she just nodded and walked away. Ponyo watched her go and continued to talk with Sosuke as if nothing happened.

Right after school, as Lisa drove the children home along the mountain road, everyone of course got to talking about the capture-the-flag game.

"It was amazing mom!" Sosuke said excitedly. "Ponyo saved the game."

"Really?" Lisa asked. "How did you do it Ponyo?"

"I snuck up on Naoki's team while they were distracted," Ponyo replied. "Then I got everybody out, but we pretended that we were caught so that we could trick them."

Lisa laughed. "You are a sneaky girl!"

Ponyo laughed in response.

"Then Ponyo did something really good," Sosuke continued. "She got Kumiko free and she didn't even have to."

"Really?" asked Lisa.

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo said with a nod.

"Why did you do that?"

"Well," Ponyo answered, "I thought that if I was in jail, I would want someone to help me. Then I thought Kumiko wanted the same."

"That was very good of you Ponyo," Lisa said.

"Thanks mom," Ponyo said.

Then, something happened…something Ponyo and Sosuke didn't expect. Lisa turned off the main road and onto a bumpy dirt road leading into the forests. As you can imagine, the two children were rather surprised.

"Um…mom," Sosuke remarked astutely, "home isn't this way. Home is that way."

"I know," Lisa said.

"Where are we going?" Ponyo asked. This was most unexpected and it made her a little nervous.

"Well," Lisa answered, 'remember when I promised you two that we would go walking in the woods?"

The two children gaped in realization.

"We're going on a walk?" Ponyo asked eagerly.

"Yes we are!" Lisa replied cheerily. "That's why I got to leave work early, so I can spend more time with my two kids."

"Yay!" cheered the children as they bounced in their seats with glee.

Lisa eventually parked at a small parking lot in a clearing. Not a soul was around. The children all hopped out of their seats and closed the car doors. They ran around the parking lot, looking in wonder at the trees towering all around the clearing. The only sign of life apart from the plant life was the chirping of birds. Ponyo gazed at everything and span in circles looking up at the sky through the clearing. It was almost too much for her to take in. Finally, Lisa called them.

"Okay kids! Gather 'round!"

The children ran over to her. Lisa took a small backpack out of the trunk of the car and put it on her back.

"Now kids," she explained, "I have water in here. If you need some, just let me know. Also, do not, and I repeat, do NOT ever step off the path or get separated. We all stay together. Okay?"

"Yes mom," the kids replied obediently.

"Promise?"

"We promise."

"Good," Lisa said. "Then let's go."

And so their little expedition into the forests began. Sosuke walked in front, Ponyo walked behind him and Lisa took up the rear to make sure her kids didn't fall behind.

As they walked through the forests, Ponyo gazed in wonder at her surroundings. The trees were close enough to give the forest a deep and mysterious look, but not suffocatingly close. In fact, Ponyo didn't feel claustrophobic at all. It was, however, a strange and almost otherworldly experience for her. Light filtered through the treetops, resulting in the most curious shadows cast upon the forest floor. Above her were layers of leaves and branches, giving the forest a very tall and cavernous look. Tree trunks of all varieties rose out of the ground and up into the canopy. Solid and straight trunks towered to the sky alongside twisted and curling trees covered in vines. In the distance, the forest disappeared deeper into itself. There was no sky or horizon visible whenever Ponyo looked straight ahead. All she saw then were bushes, ferns and, of course, tree trunks of all kinds.

The forest path took them deeper and deeper into the woods. It guided them over large tree roots, through tree tunnels, along the bases of embankments made up of roots and earth, and even across streams. One stream had a lovely row of jumping rocks spanning from bank to bank. Ponyo jumped from rock to rock with Sosuke in tow. Lisa cautiously picked her way across the rocks.

"Be careful kids," she called. "You don't want to fall."

Unfortunately, her warning came a little too late. No sooner did she finish her sentence than Ponyo's foot slipped and she tumbled and plopped into the shallow water with a splash.

"Ponyo!" Lisa and Sosuke exclaimed.

No longer thinking of getting their own feet wet, they clumsily waded and splashed over to Ponyo as fast as they could. When they reached her, Ponyo stood up, dripping wet from head to toe. She shook her head to dry it out a little and rubbed the water out of her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Sosuke asked, concerned and amused at the same time.

"You okay honey?" Lisa inquired, placing a hand on Ponyo's back.

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo said. "Now I'm all wet. Do we have a towel?"

"I'm afraid not," Lisa replied. "Do you want to go home?"

"No!" Ponyo replied. She shook her head vehemently in protest. "I want to see where this goes!"

"Okay," Lisa agreed warily, "but if you start to catch cold, I'm gonna have to take you home."

"Okay mom," Ponyo replied.

So the three sopping wet adventurers splashed their way across and squished along the trail once more. After a while, they forgot about their squelching shoes and their dripping clothes and just enjoyed the scenery. The trees took on more and more interesting forms with curious garments of mushrooms and vines. At one point in the journey, Ponyo stopped to examine a set of mushrooms that caught her eye. A large number of brown-capped fungi grew out of the side of a tree trunk. Some were clustered in layered groups like terraces. Other grew up the side of the tree like a set of stairs. Ponyo gazed at these curious growths and solemnly brushed her finger against the soft and fleshy cap.

"Don't eat those Ponyo," Lisa warned.

"What are they?" Ponyo asked.

"Those are called mushrooms," Lisa answered. "Some kinds can be eaten, but others are very, very poisonous."

That comment caused Ponyo to back away from the mushroom.

"Do you die?" Ponyo asked in a scared voice.

"Yes you can," Lisa said gravely. "So don't ever eat a mushroom unless I buy it at the store or a friend serves it to you at dinner. In fact, don't even touch wild mushrooms."

"Yes mom," Ponyo obediently replied. Then she looked at the strange fungi. "It still looks pretty."

"Oh yes," Lisa agreed. "You can look at it, just don't touch it."

After Lisa's mushroom lesson, they continued their trek. At last, after a steep climb up a hill, they reached a good-sized meadow. The field was clear of trees and bushes. In the middle of the field was a small spring bordered by concrete walls and an old stone well.

"This must be the old well," Lisa remarked. "Long ago, when Uramoto was much smaller, this was the source of their water. Look, you can see the old ditch that leads to the coast." Lisa pointed to a streambed winding away from the spring and into the woods. It had very little water in it now. Most the water ran out of an opening in the concrete walls and into another stream flowing to the west.

"I see it," Sosuke said.

"Eventually, the people of Ura Town found a better supply of water, so they stopped using this one. No one uses this spring anymore."

"Okay," Ponyo said. "I'm gonna run around."

"Me too," Sosuke said.

"Okay," Lisa replied, "but stay in the meadow where I can see you."

"Yes mom," they answered.

So before you could say 'lickety-split,' Ponyo and Sosuke whipped their shoes off and ran barefooted through the grassy field. They started a game of tag and chased each other across the field and back again. Occasionally, they would collide into Lisa. But when one volunteers to be "safe" in a game of tag, one must expect to be collided into, and to be honest Lisa didn't mind it a bit. Even after they stopped playing tag, Ponyo kept on running. Running was an exhilarating experience. She loved moving fast and using her legs. She also loved the feel of grass and soft earth beneath her feet. But even she got tired after a while, and would then plop down on the grass or bathe her feet in the spring. But that only lasted for a little. After she rested on the grass for about five minutes, she ran up to Sosuke and Lisa.

"Come on!" she urged. "Let's go running!"

"Why?" Lisa asked playfully.

"Just because it's fun," Ponyo answered in a matter-of-fact voice.

So the three ran around just for fun. After a few minutes, Lisa stopped to catch her breath. Ponyo jogged in place in front of her.

"What'cha stopping for?" Ponyo asked. "Don't you think this is fun?"

"Mommy's tired," Lisa replied. "I just need to rest for a minute."

"Okay," Ponyo said. Then she called for Sosuke, who was still running around. "Hey Sosuke! Let's take a break!"

So the three laid down on the grass side by side. Lisa was in the middle with both children to her sides. They spent the next few moments gazing up at the great white clouds floating miles and miles overhead. Occasionally, Lisa would point out a cloud shape. Then the children would identify it, though sometimes their guesses as to what the cloud shape was differed.

"That's a flower!" Sosuke pointed out.

"No," Ponyo disagreed, "it's a starfish."

"But starfish don't have more than five arms," Sosuke protested.

"Yes they do, sometimes," Ponyo replied. "Some starfish even have ten or more!"

"Really?" Sosuke asked in amazement.

"Yep," Ponyo stated.

After a pause, Sosuke decided it was still a flower, but Ponyo decided not to mind.

The scene was so relaxing, Lisa actually fell asleep and Sosuke started to drift off to slumber-land. Only Ponyo was fully awake. She was too busy studying the clouds to fall asleep. She lost herself in the endless skies overhead with layers and layers of majestic cumulus clouds soaring across. The occasional bird flew overhead as well, which only served to make the sky look even bigger and more distant.

As she studied the clouds, she began to imagine. She saw all sorts of fantastic animals, plants and fishes in the skies above. Great white birds slowly sailed to the northwest like great ships. Whales that dwarfed the highest mountains swam through the blue expanse above. On occasion, the head and neck of a great sea serpent or dragon would slither out from behind a cloud and disappear into a cauliflower forest of some nearby cloudbanks. That dragon would then be followed by a school of small guppy clouds trailing behind. So Ponyo just laid on the grass and watched this enchanted zoo cross before her eyes. She imagined the creatures meeting each other as the clouds crossed over and under each other. It was like an otherworldly scene of nature tens of thousands of feet overhead. And then, something happened…something so incredible and out of the ordinary that you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you it was true. So at the risk of disbelief, I'll continue my story, telling everything as Ponyo told me.

Ponyo was gazing at one of her imaginary creatures, a great cloud serpent drifting toward a mountain of cloud, when she decided to wake up Lisa and head for home. So she stopped imagining and started rubbing Lisa on the shoulders.

"Mom?" Ponyo said. "Mom, it's time to wake…"

But she didn't finish her sentence. She happened to look up at that moment and she saw that same cloud serpent slither into another cloud. She only saw it for a moment before it vanished. But the strange thing was that she had stopped imagining. How could the cloud shape still be moving? And not only was it moving but it was also traveling unnaturally fast and against the wind! It was almost as if…Ponyo gasped in amazement and fright as she realized what had happened.

"IT'S ALIVE!" she exclaimed. Her cloud serpent was a living creature! Ponyo shook Lisa even more vigorously. They had to know what she saw! "Mom! Sosuke! Wake up! It's alive! My clouds animals are alive!"

Lisa woke up startled out of her nap.

"Okay, okay," she replied in a tired voice. "I'm up."

Sosuke got up as well while Ponyo tugged on their arms eagerly and pointed.

"Look! Look!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" Sosuke inquired.

"There!" Ponyo pointed.

The family looked, but Ponyo's serpent was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't see anything," Sosuke remarked.

"But it was there!" Ponyo said excitedly. "It was a cloud snake I saw and it became alive!"

"Alive?" Lisa asked in an understandably disbelieving voice.

"Yes!" Ponyo insisted.

"It was probably your imagination," Lisa said assuringly.

"But it wasn't!" Ponyo insisted some more. "I stopped imagining and it still kept moving and it even went the wrong way!"

"Against the wind?" Lisa asked.

"Yes! That's it!"

Sosuke and Lisa didn't know what to make of what Ponyo supposedly saw. Lisa knew that the last thing she could do was discourage Ponyo, but at the same time it was just too crazy to comprehend. Living clouds? But…then again, she did come in contact with the Goddess of Mercy and spend some time in a magic, underwater chamber. With that, Lisa decided to play along.

"Okay Ponyo," she said. "The next time you see one of those things, let me know. Okay?"

"Yes mommy," Ponyo said. Then Ponyo returned to her original train of thought. "This was fun, but can we go home now? I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I'm hungry too," Sosuke concurred.

"Okay kids," Lisa chuckled, "let's go home."

And so our friends slipped their shoes on and walked back along the path, chattering away about what they learned in school, what they saw on the walk and all sorts of stuff. Lisa taught Ponyo more lessons about the forest and nature and Sosuke offered some bits of information too. As you can imagine, all this learning and adventuring was making Ponyo very tired. In fact, she was so tired, Lisa carried her to the car for the last half-mile of their hike. When they reached the car, Ponyo was out like a light. She was sound asleep the whole drive home and didn't wake up until dinnertime.

* * *

"And that's the end of that part of the story."

"That was a fun expedition. Do you go on expeditions?"

"Sometimes. I like to walk in the woods when I have the time."

"I want to go again."

"Maybe you will."

"Ponyo! It's time to go home!"

"Coming mom! I have to go now."

"Okay."

"Thank you very much for the story. And thanks for the music. I really liked it."

"No problem."

"I'll ask my mom if I can hear more."

"Sounds good. Have a great day and tell Sosuke I said hi."

"I will! Bye!"

* * *

Well, that was an adventure to remember. Ponyo and Sosuke finally got to explore the woods. Not only that, but...what Ponyo saw! I honestly don't know what to think of that. Living clouds? Now Ponyo is a truthful person so I almost believe that what she saw was real...what do you think?

So, what future adventures will Ponyo and Sosuke take part in? I guess we'll have to see. Until then, goodbye and God bless!

P.S. I really was listening to Mahler's 5th Symphony as I wrote the bookend scenes. In fact, I'm listening to it now. :) I have some of his symphonies and from what I've heard, they are real works of art! Quick bit of trivia: his 3rd Symphony is his longest at around **100 minutes**. One recording of it is 105 minutes long, longer than the movie _Ponyo_ (103 minutes). How about that? :D


	11. Ponyo Goes on Safari

**Chapter 11 in which Ponyo goes on Safari**

"Mr. Narrator!"

Hey Ponyo! Hi Sosuke! How are you doing?

"Good."

"Mr. Narrator, this is my friend Karen."

Hi Karen. Nice to meet you.

"Nice to meet you too mister."

"He's been telling us stories about Ponyo's first days on land."

"Really?"

"Yep. Can you tell us some more? Please?"

Sure thing Ponyo. Would you like to listen too Karen?

"Yes please!"

Good. Let's all take a seat. So, did Ponyo and Sosuke tell you about what happened before?

"You mean the clouds and the capturing game?"

Exactly.

"Mm-hmm. I know that, but I still think Ponyo dreamed up those cloud things."

"I did not!"

"Come on Ponyo. Clouds don't move or slither or anything like that. They're just made of water and air."

"But I saw it."

Okay kids.

"Maybe I can show it to you the next time it happens."

"Okay Ponyo. Or you can have your mom take a video."

"That would be a good idea Ponyo."

"Okay Sosuke and Karen."

Very well. Now then...

* * *

So Ponyo began to take to her new life even better than she thought she would. Over the next couple of days, she learned more about life and proper manners, how to use things around the house and stuff like that. She also attended school and learned all sorts of fun stuff and made new friends. Kumiko still disliked Ponyo but Ponyo learned to ignore Kumiko's rude comments and just focused on her friends and her work. Kumiko still got on her nerves and sometimes it was easier to ignore her than other times, but she did the best she could to not pay attention to her and she never made faces or argued back to her. She also helped others when they needed help, and of course spent almost all her time with Sosuke.

One fine morning, three days after the capture-the-flag game, Ponyo was walking around and heard humming from the laundry room. She walked over and saw Lisa ironing a shirt.

"Hi mom," she said.

"Hi honey," Lisa replied. "What'cha doing?"

"Nothing," Ponyo said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm ironing a shirt," Lisa explained.

"What does that mean?" Ponyo inquired.

"Well," Lisa said, "that just means that I use a really hot thing…this thing…and I use it to make shirts and pants nice and smooth instead of wrinkly."

"Okay," Ponyo nodded. Then she walked out of the laundry room.

Lisa resumed her work and smiled to herself. Teaching Ponyo everything was like raising Sosuke out of his infancy into childhood once again. Lisa relived some of the most wonderful moments of her life in raising Ponyo. But, as is the case when raising a child, there are those frustrating moments, as she was about to be reminded in four seconds.

No sooner did her memories of raising Sosuke come to mind than her ironing task was rudely interrupted. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pile of clothes was plopped down right in front and on top of the iron! Lisa gave a small screech, jerked the iron back and nearly dropped it.

"Ponyo!" she demanded in a very irritated voice, "what are you doing?"

"I got you some more clothes to iron," Ponyo replied innocently. "You're running out of clothes, so I got you some more."

Lisa sighed and rolled her eyes.

"That's very sweet of you Ponyo, but if you want me to iron your clothes you have to ask first."

"But these aren't mine," Ponyo protested, "they're Sosuke's. They looked really wrinkly so I thought you could iron them."

"Sosuke's? Where did you get them?"

"From the drawer."

Lisa sighed again and couldn't help smiling a little at Ponyo's thoughtfulness.

"Okay Ponyo, I know you want to be helpful, but remember what I said about other people's belongings?"

"Don't touch unless they say you can?"

"Yes, exactly. You see I can only iron clothes after I take them out of the drier and I have to spray them with water too. If I don't, they could be burnt and ruined."

Sosuke's clothes ruined? That made Ponyo gasp in terror.

"Did I break Sosuke's clothes?" she asked in a mortified voice.

Lisa looked over the clothes and turned to Ponyo.

"No you didn't, but don't do that again okay?"

"Yes mom," Ponyo sighed in relief.

"Now put them back before Sosuke finds out they're gone."

As soon as those words left Lisa's lips, they heard Sosuke calling from the stairs.

"Hey mom! Have you seen my swim shorts?"

Ponyo and Lisa looked at each other. Ponyo looked nervous, but Lisa couldn't help laughing.

"I better tell him," Ponyo said in a voice that sounded more like a question.

"Mm-hmm," Lisa said.

So Ponyo picked up the pile of clothes and took them out to Sosuke. The she explained everything and apologized. Sosuke took the clothes and forgave her, and the two walked upstairs to do something else. In the meantime, Lisa just continued her work and laughed at what just happened. Yep, as it turned out those frustrating moments generally wound up being funny moments in the end. Then she looked at a clock on the wall and gasped.

"Oh no! The kids are gonna be late!" She hastily hung up the shirt she was ironing, unplugged the iron and dashed out the laundry room door. Then she rushed to the fridge and took out some ham sandwiches, carrot sticks, juice drinks, crispy green grapes, chocolates and bottles of water. As she prepared their lunches, she called out.

"Kids!" she called. "We gotta hurry! You have a field trip today!"

Before Ponyo could even ask what a field trip was, the children were hustled out the door and into the car. They were all ready for the day anyway, having brushed their teeth and put on their day clothes. For some odd reason, Sosuke had an explorer's hat on and binoculars around his neck. Ponyo wanted to ask about it, but there wasn't enough time. So Lisa drove the family down the coast road as fast as she could without driving dangerously.

"Mom, why are you going so fast?" Ponyo asked.

"We have to hurry or you'll be late," Lisa replied.

"For what?"

"Well, Sensei has arranged a special day for your friends at school today. She and her husband are going to take everyone to the zoo today."

"Really?" asked Ponyo excitedly. Then another question popped into her head. "What's a zoo?"

"A zoo is where all kinds of animals from all over the world are kept for people to see and learn about," Sosuke answered.

"Animals?" asked Ponyo in anticipation.

"Yeah," Sosuke said. "They have a lot of animals and it's really fun. It's almost like another country with jungles and deserts and all sorts of places."

"Are the animals safe?" asked Ponyo.

"They are kept in pens so that they don't hurt anyone," Sosuke assured her. "Most zoos keep their animals in cages, but the owner of this zoo wants them to feel at home, so he keeps them in large pens that look like their homes. Only the birds and monkeys are kept in cages, but the cages they are very large so have lots of room to move around."

"That's great," Ponyo said. "Can we touch the animals?"

"Yes you can, if the zookeeper says its okay," Lisa said.

Ponyo bounced in her seat in excitement. It was yet another adventure that she had to be a part of.

At last, Lisa pulled into the Uramoto Zoo parking lot.

"Okay kids," Lisa said eagerly, "we're here."

The kids unbuckled themselves and hopped out of the car. Ponyo knew that she couldn't run around the parking lot because Lisa taught her that it was dangerous to do that. But she was so excited she just had to run. So Ponyo ran in very small circles right next to Lisa and Sosuke and the car.

"We're going to the zoo!" she shouted.

So Lisa and the kids walked across the parking lot and to the main entrance. At the entrance, several other families with Ponyo's classmates were gathered around Sensei and her husband named Itsiko. Ponyo and Sosuke ran to greet their friends while Sensei told everyone when they would come to pick their kids up. So the parents gave their kids their very own lunches and left them with the two adults. Then Itsiko clapped his hands together.

"Okay kids," he said loudly. With that, everyone paid attention to him. "Thank you all for coming today. Are you ready to have fun?" The kids all said yes in eager voices. "That's good. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Itsiko. I am Sensei's husband. And we will be teaching you all about animals from around the world today. So remember, this is a big place so I want everyone to stay together and not wander off. Also, don't ever enter the pens or stick your hand or anything in any pens or birdcages. At noon, we will stop to eat our lunches, and after lunch we will look at more animals until 3:00. Then your parents will come and take you all home. Sounds like fun?" The kids enthusiastically responded. "Good. Any questions before we begin?"

A little hand shot up. It belonged to Minako, the four-year-old girl who dropped her books three days ago. She was the same girl Ponyo helped out.

"Yes?" Itsiko said.

"Yeah," she said, "where did you meet Sensei?"

Everyone laughed at the four-year-old's question, even the two grown-ups.

"Well, she and I met in Tokyo in a bookstore," Itsiko replied. "We liked each other and hung out a lot and finally decided that we loved each other so much we wanted to stay together forever." Sensei blushed and smiled lovingly at her husband's comment.

"Yeah!" Ponyo chirped. "Like me and Sosuke!"

Everyone chuckled at that and Sosuke blushed. He was a little embarrassed, but really he didn't mind. After all, she was right.

"Any other questions?" Sensei asked. When no one replied, she said, "Good, then let's go."

The children all followed Sensei and Itsiko to the main entrance.

"This will be just like a safari," Sosuke said excitedly.

"What's that?" asked Ponyo.

"A safari is when a bunch of people go to a place to see the animals there," Sosuke explained.

"But we have to go into the wild for a real safari," Karen protested.

"We can play pretend," Sosuke replied.

"Good," Ponyo said. "I like playing pretend. Let's go on safari."

So the field trip at the zoo began. They entered the revolving gate and the two grown-ups led the way. After passing through a village of shops and small restaurants, the first place the kids saw was a pond with all sorts of exotic waterfowl including flamingoes, ducks and storks. Ponyo looked on them in wonder, especially the flamingoes. She was enthralled at the way they only stood on one leg and dipped their curiously curved necks to sift the water for food. She then decided to stand on one leg like them. She lifted her right leg up and tried balancing on her left foot. She only stood for about 12 seconds before she plopped down on the ground.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

Some of the kids looked over to her, but only Sosuke helped her up.

"You okay?" Sosuke asked.

"I'm fine," she said cheerily.

"You sure?" asked Sensei.

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo replied. "We can go now."

"All right then," Sensei said. "Are we all ready? Then let's keep going."

So their tour of the zoo continued as Sensei and Itsiko took them to a place showcasing Australian wildlife. Here there were koala bears and kangaroos and dingo dogs and other animals from that region. Ponyo even got to carry a koala cub in her arms. She cradled it like a baby.

"It's so soft," she said.

"It's like a teddy bear," Minako remarked as she pet its head.

Soon, all the children took turns holding it and petting it until they returned it to the zookeeper who then returned it to the eucalyptus tree it was originally perched on. Then they looked at other Australian animals including bandicoots, spiky echidnas and the curious platypus. The last creature really tripped Ponyo out. It had the body of a mammal but the face and feet of a duck (at least, that's how Ponyo saw it.) Eventually, they put the wilds of Australia behind them and entered a new territory: the Serengeti.

Well, okay, it wasn't literally the African Serengeti, but you get the idea. It was a wide-open place with grasses and scattered groves of trees. They gazed in a pen dominated by grasses, rocks and several large waterholes. Sensei then began to say something about whatever it was that lived in that pen, but most of the children were too busy trying to find the creature itself to listen. Ponyo looked around but didn't see anything.

"I don't see anything," she astutely observed.

"I see something," Kumiko said pointing.

Ponyo rushed over to her and tried to see what she was pointing at.

"Where?" she asked eagerly.

Kumiko looked at Ponyo with a little distain.

"Find it yourself," she said.

Instead of getting offended, Ponyo obeyed and looked for whatever Kumiko was talking about. Sosuke then ran up to her with his explorer regalia and looked through the binoculars.

"Can I see?" asked Ponyo.

"Not just yet," Sosuke said. "Let me find it first."

"What are we looking for?" Ponyo asked.

"A lion and his family."

"It's called a pride," Kumiko informed.

"Okay," Ponyo said. Having looked through a good many picture books at school, she knew what a lion was.

"Where was it Kumiko?" asked Sosuke. "You said you saw it."

"Oh, it's in the grasses over by that large rock," Kumiko responded. She didn't mind telling Sosuke where the lion was because she liked him.

Ponyo strained to look. Then, at last, she caught a glimpse of movement. She bounced and pointed excitedly.

"I see it! I see it!" she exclaimed.

"Me too!" Sosuke said. "Here!"

He handed Ponyo the binoculars and pointed. She looked through them to find the lion.

"Everything is so far away," she remarked.

Kumiko looked at her, sighed and rolled her eyes. She then snatched the binoculars and turned them around and gave them back to Ponyo.

"It goes like this," she snorted.

Ponyo took the goggles back and looked at Kumiko.

"Thanks Kumiko," she said gratefully. She knew that Kumiko was still being a snob, but she didn't have to correct Ponyo and she did anyway. So Ponyo was thankful and smiled at Kumiko before searching for the lion and Kumiko nodded something like a "you're welcome" in response. After a few moments of searching on the ground, she looked at a tall rock. Sure enough, there was a huge male lion with a magnificent and wild mane. Ponyo gasped and lowered the goggles. Then the rest of the lion's pride gathered at the base of the rock. It really was a majestic sight.

"Wow," sighed Ponyo in amazement.

"Those are awesome!" a little boy chirped. Ponyo just gaped in admiration of the majesty of the great cats.

The group continued through the African Serengeti section. The children passed many more exotic animals from that mysterious and faraway place. Sosuke pointed out a herd of wildebeest to Ponyo. Then after a few more paces, Ponyo gazed up in wonder at a tall giraffe. After that, Sosuke, Ponyo, Karen and Minako peeped over a rise of rock and looked at a herd of zebras. Then Kumiko identified a group of cheetahs stalking in a grassy pen. The cheetah pen was followed by the African and Asian elephant pens. Karen got to feed one of the elephants…even if it was an accident. She took out an apple to eat but the elephant nearest to her snatched it before she could take a bite.

"Hey!" she shouted. "That was mine!"

The other kids laughed and even the adults couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's not funny," Karen pouted.

At that moment, Ponyo ran up to her and offered her some carrot sticks. Karen smiled at Ponyo's kindness.

"Thanks Ponyo," she said gratefully, "but I have another apple. I don't need anything."

"Okay," Ponyo said. "Just don't eat your other apple here or the elephants will steal it."

Karen giggled at Ponyo's obvious but true word of advice.

At each pen, Ponyo asked what the animals were and Sosuke explained each animal she asked about. He never got tired of answering her questions. After all, he loved explaining things to people, and he had extra fun explaining everything he could to Ponyo because he loved her so much. But the most interesting moment happened when the children passed through a tunnel with windows on the side. The windows were underwater, making the tunnel especially fascinating in appearance. Ponyo gazed through the window and saw a hippopotamus swim toward her. It stopped at the glass and the two stared at each other for a while. Ponyo reached out and touched the glass as if to pet the hippo. The hippo then snorted a mass of bubbles through its nose and swam to the surface. Ponyo laughed and continued to stare into the pool.

"Come on Ponyo!" called Sosuke.

Ponyo looked at him, looked back to see if anything else was in the water and then followed the group out of the Serengeti and to another place.

The "safari party" crossed a great bridge and set foot on a large, man-made island. The island was home to a wide variety of reptiles, amphibians and even some monkeys. The island's pens contained giant monitor lizards and Galapagos tortoises. To her great glee, Ponyo was allowed to feed a lettuce leaf to one of the giant tortoises. After it finished, the great reptile nudged Ponyo.

"I think it likes me," Ponyo giggled.

Everyone laughed as she fed it another lettuce leaf. Soon, all the children got to feed the tortoises there. After that, they reached a place where a group of Komodo Dragons was kept. The children were told once again to keep their hands outside the pen's bars.

"Why can't we pet them?" Ponyo asked.

"Komodo Dragons are really dangerous," Sosuke explained gravely. "I think their bites are poisonous and I think they would eat you if you got too close."

Ponyo's eyes widened in fear. And just when Sosuke finished his sentence, a Komodo dragon lunged and let out a horrifying hiss. The children jumped back but Ponyo screamed and hid behind Sosuke. Sosuke got in a defensive position as if he was ready to defend Ponyo at all costs. But really, there was no danger. The pit was designed so that no Komodo dragon could escape, so the children were perfectly safe. But that didn't keep them from being afraid of the monstrous and intimidating reptiles. The one who was startled the most was Kumiko. She gave a sharp scream and fell over backwards and onto her rear. Of course, the kids all laughed (except Ponyo and Sosuke, they knew better than that), and Sensei helped her up.

"Okay kids," Sensei scolded in an amused voice. "Let's keep going."

Ponyo couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Kumiko and walked up to her with Sosuke in tow.

"Kumiko?" asked Sosuke.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Kumiko replied as she brushed pieces of grass off her blue dress.

"Okay," Ponyo said and then she ran back to Sosuke. Kumiko looked at her and couldn't help but appreciate Ponyo's concern for her. She didn't thank Ponyo but she didn't act mean to her either.

Then they moved on to a moist cave with dim lights and glass cages and ferns dripping with water. The children looked to see what on earth was in these cases. Sure enough, this was the amphibian section. All sorts of strange and colorful creatures met their eyes including tree frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and more. The highlights were giant salamanders about nine feet long and pale salamanders with no eyes.

Finally, they left the Island of Giant Dragons and Other Creepy Crawlies (at least that was Minako's name for that place) and entered the largest and most fascinating section of the zoo: Jungle Territory. Here were a wide variety of forest creatures from forests from all over the world. Now, jungles were not the only woodlands here, but jungles made up the majority of this extensive section of the park. The place was dense and the paths were made of dirt, boardwalk and the occasional wooden bridge. This was Sosuke's favorite part of the park and he got into full on explorer mode here. Soon, Ponyo was joining in on his fun and our two explorers pretended that they were on safari once again.

In the mysterious tracts of forest, they first came across great cages with a wide variety of monkeys in them. The most intimidating ones were the great orangutans with their bare faces, their red hair and their hulking bodies. Ponyo looked at one in wonder when it suddenly let out a great roar that caused most of the children, Kumiko included, to nearly jump out of their shoes. Then they came across great gorillas in another area. These ones were quite tame and didn't scare the children. Ponyo looked at the largest one with awe and a little fear. Even in its relaxed state, the gorilla was still formidable and mighty looking. After that, the spider monkeys and gibbons were a more amiable sight. These primates leapt through the trees with agility and grace. Ponyo loved watching them at play.

So the party walked on through the jungles passing crocodile lakes, more monkey exhibits, creatures from the Amazon jungle (including pythons, tapirs, sloths and more), and an aviary. The aviary was an absolutely amazing place with birds of almost every description. Ponyo looked on in disbelief at the variety and colors of the feathered creatures she saw. She saw glorious birds of paradise, the curious lyrebird, bowerbirds, parrots great and small, mynas and hummingbirds. Really, I couldn't list the hundreds of bird species she saw. And it wasn't just their appearance that left her speechless. The glorious symphony of birdcalls was a wonder Ponyo never heard before. Their calls and songs were just indescribable. She just stood there for the longest time just listening to the birdcalls. In those moments, the only sounds in existence were those glorious melodies. One bird that really got her attention was the myna bird. She looked at it and then…it happened.

"Hello," Ponyo said.

"Hello," the myna replied.

Ponyo almost fell over.

"It talks!" she nearly shrieked. Then she laughed and tried to converse with it more. "What's your name?"

"What's your name?" the bird asked.

"That's what I asked you," Ponyo said, a little taken aback that the bird didn't answer. "But my name is Ponyo."

"Ponyo, Ponyo," the bird croaked.

"Mm-hmm. So what's your name?"

"Hello," it squawked. "What's your name?"

"I told you," Ponyo said, getting a little miffed, "it's Ponyo." Then she turned to tell Sosuke about this very rude animal. "Sosuke, this bird is…"

But she didn't finish her sentence. Sosuke wasn't there. In fact, _nobody_ was there! She was completely and utterly alone.

"Sosuke?" she asked nervously. "Sosuke where are you?"

For a moment, she just looked around and turned in place to see if she could spy the group. Then she walked along the path for a ways and then back.

"Sosuke!" she called. "Sensei! Where are you"

Then a clap of thunder rolled overhead. She let out a small scream and looked toward the sky. The trees blocked most of her view but from what she could see, where blue sky had been earlier was replaced by grey rain clouds. Now Ponyo was starting to really get scared. She ran down the path and came to a fork in the road. The path was a wooden boardwalk so no tracks were visible. She decided to take a gamble and ran down a deep and dark path through the jungle. She didn't know this but she was going the wrong way.

"Sosuke!" she yelled almost at the top of her lungs, "Sosuke, Sensei! Karen, Kumiko, somebody help! Sosuke!"

At last, she lost all hope of finding her friends, threw herself onto a bench and cried. She was utterly lost and alone.

* * *

So that's the end of this chapter.

"That was so scary!"

Yeah, I bet it was Ponyo.

"I was so scared too."

I'm sure you were, Sosuke.

"But at least..."

No, no, no Karen. Don't spoil anything.

"But everyone knows this story."

Not everybody. I'm also telling this story to others who don't know what happened, with Lisa and her kids' permission of course.

"Okay. But can't I give a teeny-tiny hint?"

Nope.

"Okay Mr. Narrator. Well, my dad is calling me, so I have to go. Come on Ponyo and Sosuke."

"Okay Karen."

"We're having a sleepover at Karen's house."

That sounds like fun, Sosuke.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun playing with Sosuke and all my friends!"

"Bye Mr. Narrator! And thanks for the story!"

You're welcome. And there's more to come! Bye!

So what started as a leisurely trip to the zoo has now become one of the most horrifying experiences a child can have. Ponyo is lost and has no way of finding Sosuke and the schoolmates. What will happen next? Find out next time! Until then, goodbye and God bless!


	12. Ponyo is Lost and What Came of It

**Chapter 12 in which Ponyo is Lost and What Came of It**

Hello Ponyo, Sosuke and Lisa,

I hope all is well with you. How are you all doing? Things are fine with me, but work has been keeping me very busy this week. I hear that Ponyo recited a poem in school. That sounds like fun. I'll have to hear it sometime. Anyway, I sent this letter to continue the story I've been telling the kids. I think Ponyo will really like this chapter. So read…and enjoy. ;)

* * *

Sensei and the group were all sitting down to begin lunch. They sat in a nice outdoor picnic area with a duck pond, a lawn and a pavilion.

"Well kids," Sensei said, "I hope you all enjoyed your day so far."

The kids all answered yes.

"Good," Itsiko said. Then, at that moment, everyone heard a distant peal of thunder overhead. It wasn't loud enough to scare anyone, but there was no mistake: it was going to rain in not too long. "Well, it looks like it's going to rain," Itsiko continued. "We might have to go home early."

"Aww," the kids groaned.

"But we didn't even get to go to the petting zoo," Naoki complained.

"We'll go some other day," Sensei consoled. "But for right now, let's eat our lunch."

Suddenly, almost immediately after Sensei finished her sentence, they heard Sosuke ask in a terrified voice:

"Where's Ponyo?"

Now you're probably wondering how on earth they could have lost Ponyo. Shouldn't they have been paying attention? Wouldn't Sosuke of all people have noticed earlier that Ponyo was missing? Well, there's a reason for everything. As we all know, Ponyo was lost in thought listening to and watching all the birds in the aviary when Sensei told everyone to follow her. At that moment, Karen called Sosuke over.

"Sosuke," she said, "can you come here please?"

"Okay," he said. "Come on Ponyo!" he called back.

"Sosuke!" called Karen impatiently.

Assuming Ponyo would follow him, Sosuke ran over to see what Karen wanted. Then everyone started moving. Sensei was around a corner and she and her husband also assumed Ponyo would follow them, so they didn't notice that she was gone. As a matter of fact, later in the tour she saw a mess of red hair in the crowd and immediately thought that Ponyo was in the group. As it turned out, it was another student but Sensei didn't know that.

But Sosuke had a nagging suspicion that something wasn't right so he made up his mind to make sure Ponyo was still there. But every time he tried to look for her, someone would call him (almost always to borrow his binoculars) and he would get distracted. It wasn't until they sat down for lunch that he was finally able to go looking for Ponyo. And sure enough…she was missing.

So when he asked where Ponyo was, you can imagine the confusion and panic. Everyone began searching but Ponyo was nowhere to be found.

"Ponyo!" called Karen.

"I don't see her," Itsiko said in a mortified but calm voice.

"I thought you were with her," said Nao to Naoki.

"I don't see Kumiko either," said Minako.

"I can't believe Ponyo's gone!" Naoki wailed.

"Where's Ponyo?" Sosuke asked again with rising panic in his voice. "She's my responsibility! I promised I'd take care of her!"

"We gotta save her!" said Aiko in a desperate voice.

"I can't find her," Sensei said with quiet fear and agony in her voice.

Finally, after many questions, Sensei gathered the children around.

"Okay kids," she said as calmly as she could, "we're going on a search party. Honey, take half of the students with you and go that way and keep your cell phone on. I'll take the rest and we'll look this way. We'll meet here." So the search for Ponyo began.

In the meantime, Ponyo was alone and crying on a small, wooden bench. Great trees were everywhere and there was no sign of another living creature except for the animals in their pens. She felt like she really was lost in the middle of a vast rainforest. There was no one around to help her. The very few people (probably about two or four persons) who did pass by were strangers, and Ponyo knew better than to talk to strangers. After what felt like hours (but was really almost ten minutes), she finally stopped crying and stopped to think.

"If I stay here," she reasoned, "maybe Sosuke or Sensei will find me."

So Ponyo wisely decided to wait for Sosuke or the other classmates to help her. Maybe Sosuke would find out that she was missing and come to rescue her. She then told herself that if she was going to wait she may as well eat her lunch. She opened up her little backpack and took out the little lunchbox Lisa packed for her. She was about to open it when she heard something behind her. It was a loud and rapid chuffing sound, almost like a steam engine except that each chuff was only a fragment of a second long. It was loud and startling, causing Ponyo to nearly jump out of her shoes.

"Eek!" she yelped.

After hearing whatever it was chuff and growl a little, she decided that she shouldn't sit there. So she walked a little down the path to find another spot. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a huge shape appeared in the pen to Ponyo's right and made the same chuffing sound. It was a great Bengal tiger. Ponyo jumped a little at the beast but she didn't run away. Instead, she gazed at the great cat with great fear and a little wonder. The tiger gazed at her without another sound for a while. Then a roll of distant thunder boomed and rumbled in the distance, and the tiger slunk into a shelter carved in the side of a natural rock wall. Ponyo looked up at the greying sky, which was now a deeper gray than before. Dark grey outlines of storm clouds contrasted with a lighter grey background. Ponyo was just wondering if it was going to rain when she heard something. It sounded like a sniffing and snuffling sound, followed by the occasional whimper. Whatever it was, it was coming from around the bend. Ponyo didn't know what it was. All she knew was that it was not in the pen!

"Did an animal get out?" she asked herself in fear.

Now, what she did next may not be considered wise considering the fact that she thought an animal might be loose. But I'm sure any young child who didn't know better would do exactly what she did: go to see what was making that noise. She crept quietly and prepared to peek around the bend until a startling crack sounded from beneath her foot. She stepped on a twig, resulting in a loud snap. She gasped and recoiled at the sound. But then she heard whatever it was give a startled gasp. Then…it spoke.

"Who's there?" it asked. It sounded like a little girl just as scared as Ponyo.

Ponyo suddenly realized that it wasn't a "what" behind the bend but a "who." Furthermore, she recognized the "who's" voice. She gave a little gasp and ran to see if she was right…and she was. There, seated on a little bench, was Kumiko.

"Kumiko?" she asked.

"Ponyo?" Kumiko replied.

What are you doing here?" Ponyo asked.

"What are you doing here?" Kumiko replied.

"I got lost," Ponyo said sadly. "Now I can't find Sosuke and Sensei." She started to sniffle, but stopped herself and wiped her eyes. "So why are you here?"

"I got lost too," Kumiko said sadly, too sorrowful to say anything mean to Ponyo, even though she wanted to. "I saw a pretty flower and went to get it. But when I looked, everyone was gone." Then Kumiko started to weep a little.

Ponyo watched Kumiko and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She knew how Kumiko felt. She sat down next to her and then noticed that Kumiko's backpack was missing.

"Where's your backpack?" she asked.

"I lost it when I went to look for Sensei and my friends," Kumiko said forlornly. "I forgot where it is."

"Oh," Ponyo said. "I hope you get it back."

"Me too," Kumiko replied.

Suddenly Ponyo felt a raindrop on her face. She wiped her face with her hands and looked up as another drop fell upon her nose. Kumiko then felt a raindrop on her hand.

"It's going to rain," Kumiko said.

No sooner did she say those words when the rain started to fall some more.

"Come on," Ponyo said.

Without another word, she grabbed Kumiko's hand and nearly dragged her deeper into the "jungles" where the trees were thicker. The two searched for some form of shelter from the rain. For the moment, it was only little more than a drizzle and not quite a shower, but Kumiko knew that it was going to pour in not too long.

"We have to hurry," Kumiko said.

The two girls ran through the jungles trying to find a sheltered place. They followed the boardwalk and dirt path past large animal pens, across a wooden bridge, near a large man-made waterfall and lake and through a hall of trees until they finally found a little alcove with a bench inside.  
"Here!" Ponyo said. Then Kumiko sat down and Ponyo stood and gazed outside their shelter as the rain poured harder. Rain still managed to drip through the leaves overhead, but it was much better than standing outside. They were both wet, but not as wet as they would have been if they stayed outside much longer.

Ponyo stood at the entrance and watched the rain pour down in torrents outside. Just outside the alcove was the path. On the other side of the path, about 10 feet below ground level, was a small lake with water lilies decorating the edges. A lovely waterfall about 30 feet high poured into the pond at the far side. In the center of the pond was a small pagoda that served as decoration. After examining the scenery, Ponyo looked at Kumiko and saw tears forming in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Ponyo asked in a concerned voice.

Right after Ponyo asked her that, Kumiko started to sniffle, her lower lip quivered and a tear rolled down her cheek. Ponyo looked at Kumiko and felt nothing but compassion for her and a desire to help her. She walked over to her and Kumiko scooted over to let Ponyo sit next to her.

"It's okay Kumiko," Ponyo consoled.

Then Kumiko started to sob loudly. Tears poured down her face. She tried to hold back her tears with her hands, but to no avail.

"I want to go home," she sobbed.

Ponyo gently patted Kumiko on the back.

"Don't cry Kumiko," she said in a consoling voice. "Sosuke and Sensei will find us. They're both very smart. Besides, I'm here. I can watch you while they're gone."

Kumiko looked at Ponyo with tears in her eyes. One might say there was gratitude in them. Then Ponyo took out her lunchbox, opened it up and took out her ham sandwich and a small carton of juice. Kumiko wiped her eyes with her sleeve and continued looking out at the rain. Then she suddenly felt a nudge against her arm. She looked and saw Ponyo handing her half of her ham sandwich.

"Here," she said. "Have some lunch." Kumiko looked at the sandwich and then at Ponyo. "Go ahead," Ponyo insisted kindly. Kumiko slowly took it and ate it thoughtfully. Ponyo then started eating her half of the sandwich. Kumiko looked at Ponyo.

"Thank you," she said sadly.

"You're welcome," Ponyo said. Then she looked in her lunchbox and took out the rest of her lunch. "Do you like carrots?" she asked.

"Not really," Kumiko said.

"How about grapes?" Ponyo asked.

"Yes please," Kumiko replied.

So Ponyo shared her lunch with Kumiko and both just sat there and waited. After a while, the rain turned from a downpour to a gentle sprinkle.

"It's not raining so hard," Ponyo commented and she stood up to go outside.

"Where are you going?" Kumiko asked in a voice that suggested she didn't want Ponyo to leave.

"I'm going to call for help," Ponyo said. "Maybe if they could hear us, they'll find us."

Ponyo then stood out in the rain and yelled as loud as she could.

"Help! Sosuke, help!" she shouted. "Help! Sosuke! Sensei! Help!"

She continued shouting like this for a little while. Then Kumiko came out and decided to help her. After all two heads were better than one. So the two shouted for a while. Then, at long last, their cries were answered. In the distance, Ponyo heard a familiar voice.

"Ponyo!"

She gasped.

"It's Sosuke!" she exclaimed cheerfully. " I knew he would save us!"

"Ponyo, where are you?" Sosuke shouted in the distance.

"Hey!" Kumiko yelled again.

"Over here!" Ponyo shouted.

"I found them!" Sosuke yelled.

"Kids?" shouted Sensei's voice.

At that moment, Sensei's search party rushed from around the bend and there was a joyous reunion. Everyone hugged each other in relief as Sensei called her husband on her cell phone to tell him that all was well. Sosuke cried as he hugged Ponyo tight. Ponyo couldn't help crying herself.

"I'm so sorry Ponyo," he said. "I promised I'd take care of you and I didn't. I was so afraid."

"That's fine," Ponyo said with teary-eyed joy. "Everyone makes mistakes. I'm just happy to see you again."

"I'll never, ever, ever lose you again!" Sosuke promised.

"Me neither!" Ponyo replied.

So everyone ran to the sheltered pavilion in the picnic place as the two girls explained how they got lost. Now, since it was an accident, the two didn't get in trouble, but they were told to pay attention and make sure that they stayed close next time. Sensei then apologized to them for not keeping a closer eye on them and Ponyo and Kumiko forgave her. After that, Karen handed Kumiko her lost backpack.

"Here," she said. "We found this."

"Oh," Kumiko said. "Thanks."

Then they all sat down to lunch. Ponyo was the only one who didn't have a lunch with her, but she didn't mind too much. Sosuke shared some of his lunch with her...until Kumiko walked over with her lunchbox.

"Can I sit here?" she asked.

"Sure," Sosuke replied and Kumiko sat across from Ponyo and Sosuke. Then she took out her lunch: a peanut butter sandwich, some bento, small cartons of fruit punch and rice candy. She broke her sandwich and gave half of it to Ponyo

"Here," she said. "Since you let me have some of your lunch, I'll let you have some of mine."

"You don't have to do that," Ponyo said, but Kumiko wouldn't have it.

"Please?" she asked.

Ponyo smiled, gave in and took the sandwich.

"Thanks," Ponyo said. She ate the sandwich with relish and then Kumiko gave some of her bento and rice candy to Ponyo. Soon the three kids were sharing their lunches with each other and talking about their time at the zoo. After lunch, the rain was reduced to a faint drizzle so the adults decided that they could continue for a little while longer. So with that, everyone packed up their lunch and resumed their tour.

Eventually, the tour ended and it was time to go home. The group reached the main gate and waited at the flamingo pond for the parents to pick the children up. At the pond, Kumiko walked up to Ponyo and Sosuke.

"Ponyo?" she said.

"Hi Kumiko," greeted Ponyo. "What is it?"

"I wanted to thank you for being so nice and taking care of me," Kumiko said. And I'm happy to say that Kumiko wasn't being sarcastic or feeling obligated. She was really, truly grateful.

"You're welcome," Ponyo said with a smile.

"I'm sorry for being so mean to you," Kumiko continued. "That was bad of me."

Ponyo nodded sincerely.

"That's fine," she replied. "I forgive you. It was my fault really. I started it. I made a bad face at you and squirted you in the face." Kumiko chuckled a little. "Can you forgive me?" Ponyo continued.

Kumiko smiled. "Mm-hmm. I forgive you too Ponyo."

"Thank you."

Kumiko fidgeted bashfully a little before speaking again.

"Ponyo, can we be friends?" asked Kumiko.

Ponyo's heart gave a little leap of hope at that moment. "You want to be my friend?" she asked quietly and hopefully.

"Can we?" asked Kumiko in a hopeful voice.

Ponyo smiled and nodded. "Mm-hmm," she said in a kindly voice. "Let's be friends."

Kumiko's face beamed and the two children gave each other a big hug. Sosuke stood there and watched Ponyo with pride.

So the children chatted with each other until their parents finally came to pick them up. Everyone said their farewells and thanked Sensei and her husband for the wonderful time they had. Lastly, Ponyo and Kumiko said goodbye to each other.

"Bye Ponyo!" Kumiko said.

"Bye Kumiko!" Ponyo called back. "I'll see you at school!"

"You too!"

And so it was that the two girls forgave each other and their rivalry ended once and for all. On that day, thanks to Ponyo's kindness, Ponyo and Kumiko became best of friends.

* * *

And that's Chapter 12 of your story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now, as the time approaches the present, I don't have much more to tell. And so I must draw this collection of tales to a close. But there is one last story I want to tell everyone, and it is a very special one at that. But that will have to wait until another time. So until then, goodbye and God bless!

Best regards,

Mr. Narrator

(Imaginarius '84)


	13. The Stories End

**Chapter 13 in which The Stories End**

Now it has been said that, in one way or another, all good stories must come to an end. And so it is true with this wonderful tale of Ponyo's first days on land.

"What? It's over?"

Yes Ponyo. This is the last chapter of this story.

"But, but, but there was so much more that happened! Remember when I went to the aquarium and told the tour guide that he was wrong about the fishes?"

"Yeah. And what about when Ponyo left the bathtub running and the whole room flooded?"

"Or when I..."

Sorry kids, but I can only tell so many stories this time around.

"Well...(sigh)...okay Mr. Narrator. Does it really have to end?"

I'm afraid so...in a way.

"What do you mean?"

I'll tell you...after the story.

"Okay."

Now...as I was saying, this story draws to a close, but I want to end with one last event. Something very special happened, and it happened shortly after Lisa drove Ponyo and Sosuke home from the zoo.

* * *

At the house, Lisa and her children hopped out the car and walked into the house. Ponyo and Sosuke each held a small bag of groceries while Lisa carried the heavier bags.

"Ponyo," Lisa said, "can you get the door please?"

"Yes mom!" Ponyo called.

She ran to the door and opened it after Lisa unlocked it. Then they all went inside and worked together to put the groceries away. Lisa took that moment to teach Ponyo where the food went when it wasn't being used.

"Now remember Ponyo," Lisa instructed, "I will put the heavy things away. I don't want you dropping anything. Okay?"

"Okay mom," Ponyo obediently said.

After putting everything away, the three plopped down on the couch and relaxed.

"Ponyo," Lisa said, "I'm very proud of you for taking care of Kumiko. That was a wonderful thing to do."

"Thank you mom," Ponyo said. "I felt really bad for her."

"Mm-hmm," Sosuke commented, "and because you were so kind to her, now she's your friend."

"Yeah! I'm glad Kumiko is my friend now."

"Me too," Lisa said.

After a while of silence and thought, Ponyo suddenly got up.

"Mom?" she asked. "May I go down to the water?"

Lisa nodded in approval. With that, Ponyo nodded a thank you and ran out the door. Sosuke followed her and Lisa watched them go with a smile on her face.

Outside, the sun was nearly setting and everything was bathed in the golden light of the evening. The sky was pink and deep blue with gold surrounding the sun. A few clouds painted by the sunset light floated miles overhead. The sun shone in Ponyo and Sosuke's eyes as they descended the steep path to the shore below the house. They finally reached the beach and removed their shoes. Ponyo wiggled her toes in the warm sand and earth and walked out into the water. Sosuke followed her and the two gazed upon the sunset scenery.

"It's so pretty," Ponyo sighed. "It looks like a picture."

"Sometimes," Sosuke commented, "when the sky has the right clouds in it, the sky looks like fire. It's really cool."

"Can I see that?" Ponyo asked eagerly.

"Someday," Sosuke replied.

Ponyo smiled at Sosuke and then looked down into the water. She examined the sandy and rocky ground beneath the surface. Then, something remarkable happened. The water rose a little. Initially, the surface of the water reached to a little above her ankles. Now the water was up to her knees.

"Sosuke," she said with a little alarm, "the water! It's rising!"

Sosuke examined the horizon to see if a large wave was coming.

"I don't see any waves," Sosuke said.

Suddenly, the water seemed to solidify around Ponyo's feet. Then the water pushed her upward until the soles of her feet were on the surface of the water. She didn't know what to say, think or do. She just looked at Sosuke with an open-mouthed, surprised and perhaps a little fearful look on her face. Sosuke looked about as shocked as she did. With that, he rushed out to get her but the water did the same thing to him. Now they were both standing side by side. Sosuke grabbed Ponyo's hand and they held onto each other as tightly as they could.

"Don't worry Ponyo," Sosuke said with as much courage as he could muster. "I'll protect you."

"I'll protect you too," Ponyo said.

Then something rose out of the water about thirty feet away from them. Whatever it was Ponyo and Sosuke couldn't make out because the sunlight was directly in their faces when they looked at it. All they knew was that it was thin and it stood upright. Ponyo and Sosuke sheltered their eyes from the blinding sunlight so neither of them saw the whatever-it-was approach. Ponyo had her eyes closed when it stood over her, shading her from the sun's blinding rays. Then…it spoke. It only said one word, but it only needed to say one word:

"Ponyo."

Ponyo's eyes opened with realization. She recognized that deep and rich voice. She looked up at the figure before her and gasped.

"Father!" she exclaimed.

Fujimoto had come at last.

With that, Ponyo leapt forward and gave Fujimoto a great big embrace. Sosuke opened his eyes and smiled. His plan of sending Fujimoto that message in a bottle worked.

"I'm happy to see you," Ponyo said in a relieved and happy voice.

"I missed you my child," Fujimoto said.

"I missed you too," Ponyo said.

After a moment, Fujimoto looked at Sosuke.

"I see that you are taking good care of my daughter."

"Mm-hmm," Sosuke said. "We all love her very much."

"Good. Now Ponyo…would you like to see your sisters?"

Ponyo gasped with joy.

"Yes please!" she nearly shouted.

"Come with me," Fujimoto said with a smile.

With that, the solidified water started to take Fujimoto and Ponyo out to sea. Then Ponyo tugged on her father's arm.

"Can Sosuke come?"

"Not this time," Fujimoto replied.

"Yes father," Ponyo said reluctantly.

So Sosuke watched as the wave took Ponyo and Fujimoto out to sea. Then he saw a great submarine rise out of the depths to greet them. Ponyo set foot on the deck of the submarine with her father in tow. Then she looked back at Sosuke, who was being brought back to shore by the living wave he was standing on. The children looked at each other for a moment until Fujimoto gently placed his hand on Ponyo's shoulder. Ponyo waved to Sosuke, then father and daughter entered the submarine. After they went inside, the vessel submerged beneath the waves. Sosuke was left alone on the shore. He sat down and waited…and hoped that Ponyo would come back.

Inside the submarine, Ponyo ran around her father's workplace. She had never really explored her father's ship before and as you can imagine, she was really enjoying herself. She noticed with new eyes the wonders of her father's submarine. She felt the hard floor beneath her feet and touched the counters with her hands. Fujimoto looked on his daughter with a curious expression, a sort of cross between happiness and regret. The thought occurred to him that she was truly experiencing what used to be her home for the first time in her life. He was happy that he saw his daughter happy, but regretful that he never gave her the chance to experience this for herself. She asked many, many questions and Fujimoto answered them in a fatherly way, which was a way he had seldom spoken to Ponyo before.

"Careful," Fujimoto warned as Ponyo picked up a vibrating vial of potion.

"It's shaking a little," Ponyo said in wonder.

"It's full of powerful magic."

She gently set it back into its place and looked at her father with excitement.

"This place is fantastic!"

"It is indeed," Fujimoto said. "I'm very proud of it myself. Now, would you like to see your sisters?"

Fujimoto took Ponyo to a large living room in the center of the submarine. Lining the walls were wood shelves filled with books of every description. Close to the middle of the room was a table with parchments and a teakettle. In the very center of the living room was a very large bubble on pedestal. A lone armchair stood before the great bubble. Ponyo felt the rubbery surface of the bubble and pressed against it a little. Being a magic bubble, it didn't pop. Fujimoto then flipped a switch on a wall and, at that moment, the floor of the bubble opened and hundreds of tiny red fishes swarmed into the bubble. When the flow of fish stopped, Fujimoto flipped the switch again, closing the floor of the bubble. Ponyo looked at the fishes with glee.

"My sisters!" she exclaimed. "Hi!"

The little fishes saw Ponyo and swam in ecstatic circles. Then they all crowded around to greet their beloved sibling. Ponyo laughed at the wonderful scene. Fujimoto smiled and then took a small vial out of his coat pocket. He dropped a drop on the surface of the bubble, and where the drop fell a hole opened.

"Would you like to visit your sisters?" he asked.

She nodded and Fujimoto lifted his daughter up in his arms to put her inside the bubble so that she could be with her sisters once again.

"Up you go," he said in a good-humored voice.

She giggled and squirmed in her father's grasp.

"That tickles," she laughed.

Fujimoto gently placed her inside the bubble but did not seal her inside. After all, since she was human now, she couldn't breathe underwater. Instead, he kept the bubble open at the top, giving it the appearance of a great fishbowl.

Inside the bubble, Ponyo played and swam with her sisters. They played with her dress, her hair, her hands and her feet. She kissed some of them and even tried to hug a bunch of them. It was a moment of great joy for Ponyo as she reunited with a family that raised her but she hadn't seen in a while. The scene was so joyful that Ponyo started to cry a little.

"I missed you all," she said to her sisters.

Finally, Fujimoto lifted her out, sealed the bubble once more and used a magic spell to dry Ponyo off. Then she spent the next thirty minutes or so talking about life on land and the friends she made, the things she learned and the adventures she had. Fujimoto listened with rapt attention. He remembered a life like that, and now his daughter was experiencing it too. He couldn't help but smile a little.

After that, Ponyo stood up and looked out a very large window at the many forms of marine life outside. Fishes great and small swam by. Some hid in miniature forests of seaweed and others weaved among branches of coral. Ponyo sighed. This was the life she remembered best.

"Do you miss home?" Fujimoto asked.

"Mm-hmm," Ponyo replied with a nod. "Sometimes."

After a moment of silence, Fujimoto asked her a very important question:

"Ponyo, if you could some home for good, would you?"

"Huh?" Ponyo asked in a curious voice.

"Your mother and I thought about you getting homesick and wanting to return to the sea. We knew that it would be natural for you to wish to return at some point. So we have found a way to return you to your magical nature, allowing you to live with us once again without upsetting the balance of nature. If I promised to allow you to keep your human form, would you be interested in returning home? We all miss you Ponyo, and from the sound of things, you miss us. If you choose to stay, you will become a magician like me and learn magic once more."

"Does that mean I can't be human?" Ponyo asked.

"No, but you will keep your form just like me. You can still walk and use your hands and feet, just like you've always wanted. We would also allow you to visit your friends on land from time to time."

Ponyo paused for a moment and thought about it.

"I will not force you to return to us. The magic will only work if you wish it to work. The choice is ultimately yours. But I want you to know that no matter where you choose to live, I will always love you."

Ponyo stood silent for a while and then turned to her father. There were tears in her eyes. It had been a very long time since her father said those words.

"I love you too," she said. Then father and daughter embraced once more.

"Can you forgive me for not being a better father to you?"

"Yes father. I forgive you. Can you forgive me for running away and causing you lots of trouble?"

"Of course I do." Ponyo smiled. She knew where her true home was.

On the shore, Sosuke waited and waited for Ponyo to return. The sun had disappeared behind the horizon by now, but he was determined to stay until Ponyo returned, even if he had to spend the night. Ponyo still didn't appear. He began to worry that maybe Ponyo chose to stay with Fujimoto. Was she at least going to say goodbye? A storm of thoughts swam through the poor boy's head. Finally, he decided to stay calm and see what would happen. He determined that if Ponyo decided to leave, she would at least say goodbye to her adopted family. He hoped, however, that she would choose to stay.

Then, something caught his eye. He saw the submarine resurfacing.

"Ponyo?" he asked in a hopeful voice.

He started to wade out to the water but stopped when he saw Ponyo and Fujimoto walk onto the deck of the submarine. He then saw them give a short embrace. After that, his heart began to beat even faster as he saw one of Fujimoto's enchanted waves carry Ponyo back to his side.

"I'm sorry I took so long," Ponyo said.

"That's fine," Sosuke said in a nervous voice.

"Are you okay?" Ponyo asked.

There was a moment of silence as Sosuke was torn between asking her if she was staying and keeping his mouth shut. Finally Ponyo started to speak.

"I have to tell you something."

Sosuke knew what that meant. His eyes started to water. He turned away from Ponyo, wiped his eyes and desperately tried not to cry.

"Sosuke?"

"It's okay Ponyo," he said. "Will you visit often?"

Ponyo looked at Sosuke with a quizzical look.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Aren't you going home?"

"Yeah," she said cheerily. "It's almost time for dinner."

Sosuke did his very best not to cry.

"What's for dinner?" Sosuke asked, not knowing what else to say. He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye to his best friend and sister.

"You know what's for dinner," Ponyo replied. "It's ham sandwiches with pudding for dessert!"

"But that's…that's what mom is making."

"Yes silly," Ponyo said in a sisterly voice. "I said I was going home."

Sosuke's heart leapt and beat even faster than before. "You're not going back to the ocean?"

"No Sosuke!" Ponyo replied, perhaps a little taken aback at the very idea. "I love the ocean, but it's not my home now. My home is with you and mommy. I just want to tell you that my father will be visiting often. I hope that's okay."

"Oh it's fine," Sosuke said, his voice a cross between a nervous laugh and a heavy sigh of relief.

"You didn't think I was going to leave, did you?"

"I thought maybe you missed your old home and you wanted to go back."

"Yeah, but now that father will see me often it won't be so bad. I love living with you and mommy more than any place in the world."

Sosuke smiled a joyful smile. Then Ponyo wrapped her arms around Sosuke.

"I love you Sosuke," Ponyo said.

"I love you too," Sosuke replied as he embraced Ponyo.

Then from high above the cliff, the two children heard their mother's voice calling.

"Sosuke! Ponyo! It's time for dinner!"

"Coming mom!" the two siblings called back.

Then they slipped their shoes on and ran up the cliffs hand in hand while Fujimoto watched them leave. He smiled a sad smile. He knew his daughter was where she needed to be: with a wonderful family that would teach her the lessons of life and love her forever and ever. He re-entered his submarine and disappeared beneath the waves while Ponyo and Sosuke entered the house to enjoy another delicious dinner together.

* * *

So kids, that's the end of this part of the story.

"That was wonderful."

"Yeah. I was so afraid Ponyo was going to leave."

"That's okay Sosuke. I won't leave until I become a grown-up."

"Me neither Ponyo."

"But, Mr. Narrator, why did you say it was the end of 'this part?'"

Well Ponyo, it's because your story isn't finished yet. This last part happened maybe…wasn't it last month or two months ago?

"Mm-hmm."

So you see, when I said the story was over "in a way," I meant that this particular story was finished. But the bigger story of your life is still before you.

"Wow."

"That's fantastic. But there's something that makes me wonder."

What is it Ponyo?

"The living clouds?"

"Yes Sosuke! I still wonder about those cloud things I saw when mommy took me on that walk. The clouds were alive, I just know it!"

"Do you know what happened Mr. Narrator?"

To be honest…I don't. I've never heard of such a thing happening. Did your father say anything?

"No, but he looked really curious."

Hmm. Well, someday I'm sure you'll figure it all out.

"I hope so."

"Well, we have to go. We're going to Karen's birthday party."

"She's turning six today!"

Oh that sounds fun.

"Yeah! I've never had cake before."

Oh, I'm sure you'll love it Ponyo. It's delicious.

"Karen's mom makes really yummy cakes and Karen likes to help make them."

Okay, well I won't keep you. Have fun you two.

"Goodbye Mr. Narrator, and thank you for the story. I loved it."

Any time. I had fun telling it. Goodbye!

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

* * *

And so this story ends…and a new adventure of life on land begins. I'm sure it will be a grand adventure for Ponyo and Sosuke as they grow, experience new things, face certain trials and learn life lessons. I'm looking forward to more adventures for our two young friends…but that's another story.

Goodbye my friends and God bless!

The End


End file.
